Washington, Oct 6, SPA -- The White House is reiterating that United States’ policy that they do not use torture, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said on Friday. The reaffirmation came after U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a press conference on Friday that the United States uses interrogation techniques, but does not torture, “no matter what they [the terrorists] would do to us,” according to Perino. “What the President said today is, yes, we do interrogate al Qaeda terrorists. These are people who intend to harm us. We do not torture them,” Perino said. While the White House would not speak on the specifics behind interrogation techniques, it said that the United States meets “our international obligations,” according to Perino’s statement. Bush’s statement came as a reminder that the United States is “in a war” and that the President is “going to do everything he can within the law to make sure that they are protected from terrorists who want to harm us,” Perino said. “Every day that we get farther away from 9/11, that people will start forgetting the threats that we’re [United States] under, and al Qaeda is very serious, they’re very patient. And the best source of information about how they're trying to harm us is from the terrorists themselves. And that’s why we created the interrogation program, and it has saved lives,” Perino said. The White House has been responding to speculation over questionable U.S. interrogation techniques used by the Central Intelligence Agency since the New York Times reported on the subject in an October 4, 2007 article. After the article was printed, the United States’ definition of torture and the secrecy behind documents detailing alleged American use of torture came into question. Though the White House would not reveal what specific interrogation techniques are used by the United States due to security issues, Washington reiterated that the “intelligence community was fully briefed,” according to Perino. “It is absolutely important-it’s critically important that we keep this information secret. It is secret for a reason,” she said. --SPA www.spa.gov.sa/488462