WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said torture of prisoners in U.S. custody might be allowable if a suspect had information of an imminent terror attack.
"In that million-to-one situation, then the President of the United States would authorize and then take responsibility for it," McCain said on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" Sunday. "We've gone a long way from having that kind of scenario to having prisons around the world, to renditions, to the things that have been done which are, in my view, not appropriate."
McCain -- who succeeded last week in getting President George W. Bush to agree to a ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners -- said interrogation procedures that "shock the conscience" will be banned under the legislation.
"Waterboarding, which makes someone believe they're being executed, shocks the conscience," he said.
