President Bush (R)shakes hands with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005 in Washington. The White House has agreed to McCain's proposal to ban cruel treatment of prisoners. (Photo: AP)

     BEIJING, Dec. 165 (Xinhuanet) -- President Bush and Republican Senator John McCain from Arizona Thursday announced a tentative deal to outlaw the use of torture measures by U.S. troops and personnel when interrogating foreign terror suspects.

    "This is a done deal,"said McCain, a former POW who was tortured in Vietnam, following a White House meeting with the president in the Oval Office of the White House.

    "Sen. McCain has been a leader to make sure that the United States of America upholds the values of America as we fight and win this war on terror," Bush said. "And we've been happy to work with him to achieve a common objective, and that is to make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention on torture whether it be here or aboard."

    McCain said the non-binding resolution approved by a 308 to 102 vote in the House had sent a message to the world'that the United States is not like the terrorists.'

    "What we are is a nation that upholds values and standards of behavior and treatment of all people no matter how evil or bad they are,' McCain said.

    The White House had earlier resisted a formal ban, arguing that existing law already outlawed torture. Administration officials had also expressed concern that a ban would undermine U.S. personnel interrogating terror suspects, because detainees would fear them less.

    But McCain's push for the ban on  "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" of anyone in U.S. government custody, regardless of where they are held had drawn overwhelming support from senators and representatives of both parties, who expressed concern that the United States' moral authority in the rest of the world had eroded as a result of abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and other reported misconduct.

    McCain argued that Bush's concerns were outweighed by the damage already suffered to U.S. standing around the world and the increased danger to captured U.S. service members -- who, without a ban in place, would be more likely to face torture at the hands of terrorists or other enemies.

    Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA has used an array of coercive techniques that go beyond methods traditionally employed by military interrogators. One technique that has reportedly been employed by agency operatives is called "waterboarding," which involves strapping a prisoner to a board and dousing him with water to create a sensation of drowning.

    The method is said to have been used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who was captured in Pakistan in 2003. McCain's amendment does not explicitly ban waterboarding, but it and certain other methods are presumed to be deemed unacceptably cruel or inhuman under the amendment.

    The White House previously had argued that existing conventions banning such treatment did not necessarily apply in cases involving foreign suspects being questioned by U.S. operatives on foreign soil.

    But the McCain bill seeks to close that loophole by saying such restrictions apply "regardless of nationality or physical location."

    The McCain amendment would also require that detainees in military custody be treated in accordance with the Army's field manual on interrogation, reinforcing a direction the Army already was headed in.Enditem

    (Agencies)