Cheney: Vice President for Torture

"A former director of America's intelligence agency has branded the country's deputy leader a "vice president for torture".

Admiral Stansfield Turner, who was in charge of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the 1970s, said Dick Cheney was overseeing torture policies of possible terrorist suspects and was damaging America's reputation by doing so.

President George Bush and other leading members of the his administration have consistently denied that detainees suspected of belonging to al Qaida were tortured for information. But his opponents and human rights campaigners have claimed that many men taken captive in Iraq and Afghanistan by the US have been subjected to torture in order to extract information.

Speaking on ITV news Admiral Turner said: "We have crossed the line into dangerous territory.

"I am embarrassed that the USA has a vice president for torture. I think it is just reprehensible." ^Scotsman