President Bush blasted the congressional move to ban waterboarding last night, suggesting that relatives of London bombing victims would understand the need for such interrogation techniques. Victims' families "understand the nature of killers," he told the BBC. He said lawmakers "are imposing a set of standards in terms of interrogating prisoners that our people think will be ineffective."
Bush also defended detaining suspects at Guantanamo Bay and the decision to invade Iraq. "History will judge the decisions made during this period of time as necessary decisions," he said, making it clear he felt the US retained the moral high ground. A Justice Department official said yesterday that waterboarding is not legal under current US law. (More George W. Bush stories.)