In an interview, Cheney agreed that "a dunk in the water" for terrorism suspects during questioning in order to save American lives was a "no brainer". His comments provoked outrage from anti-torture and human-rights groups.

Asked about the remark, Bush said the US does not use torture and is not going to.

Cheney is assumed by human-rights groups to have been referring to "water boarding" . . . a technique in which suspects are made to think they are drowning. Bush did not comment on particular techniques.

"This country doesn't torture . . . we're not going to torture, " Bush said during a photo session in Washington DC. "We will interrogate people we pick up off the battlefield to determine whether or not they've got information that will be helpful to protect the country, " he said.