George W. Bush may be a lame-duck president, but he refuses to act like one. In the last year of what history will undoubtedly judge as a failed presidency, Mr. Bush continues to draw lines in the sand.

In continuing with the theme of failure and shortsightedness, Mr. Bush executed his eighth veto of the past 10 months against a congressional measure that would have limited the CIA's ability to use harsh interrogation techniques -- specifically waterboarding -- on terror suspects.

"Because the danger remains, we need to ensure our intelligence officials have the tools they need to stop the terrorists," Mr. Bush said explaining his veto during his weekly radio address last week.

Mr. Bush believes that waterboarding has yielded much of the information that has kept America terror-free since Sept. 11, 2001.

But Congress isn't the only institution that opposes Mr. Bush's stance on waterboarding. Military commanders as esteemed as Gen. David Petraeus have said in the past that harsh interrogation methods are unnecessary and counterproductive. FBI officials also have opposed the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture because of the unreliable intelligence they generate. Morally tainted evidence isn't going to impress the American people or our allies. It also gives a propaganda victory to our enemies.

Even if Mr. Bush considers congressional opposition to waterboarding politically partisan, the fact that so many institutions that he usually counts on for support also oppose it should give him pause. Mr. Bush's veto is as much about protecting executive power from what he considers encroachment from the legislative branch as maintaining the CIA's prerogative for sanctioned cruelty in the name of keeping Americans safe.

One day, the folly of Mr. Bush's decision to allow waterboarding will be evident to all-- including Mr. Bush. Until then, we can only marvel at the self-deception that makes a reliance on torture an American virtue.