(SNN Washington) U.S. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadly took time to clarify a statement by President Bush on the whether the United States employed torture.

The President had originally said, “We do not torture.” Later Hadly explained that the president really meant to say, “we are going to do whatever we do in accordance with the law.” But then Hadly went on to add it was “a difficult dilemma to know what to do in that circumstance to both discharge our responsibility to protect the American people from terrorist attack and follow the president's guidance of staying within the confines of law."

In addition, Senator Kit Bond, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Newsweek Magazine, "enhanced interrogation techniques" had been used with captured Al-Qaeda operatives. This prompted many Americans to ask, “We have a Senator named Kip? Seriously?” Also, Dick Cheney reportedly roughed up Condoleeza Rice in order to find out who took the last jelly donut in a recent meeting of the cabinet.

But torture does have it’s detractors. Amongst the detractors is Sen. John McCain. McCain authored an amendment last month to prohibit “cruel, inhuman, or degrading” treatment of detainees in U.S. custody. McCain knows a little about torture. He was imprisoned and questioned by torturers during the Republican primaries in 1999.

posted by NewsBlog 5000  # Monday, November 14, 2005