FACTBOX: The waterboarding technique

(Reuters) - The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives voted 222-199 on Thursday to outlaw harsh interrogation methods, such as simulated drowning, that the CIA has used against suspected terrorists.

Here are some facts about the interrogation technique known as waterboarding.

* According to Human Rights Watch, waterboarding dates at least to the Spanish Inquisition. The group says that in some versions of the technique, prisoners are strapped to a board, their faces covered with cloth or cellophane, and water is poured over their mouths to simulate drowning. In other versions, prisoners are dunked headfirst into water.

* Waterboarding was used in Central and South America in the 1970s and 1980s, the rights organization says.

* Waterboarding causes reflexive choking, gagging and the feeling of suffocation, the organization says.

* Many countries, U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups have accused U.S. security services of torturing terrorism suspects since the 2001 attacks, including using waterboarding.

* President George W. Bush insists that the United States does not engage in torture, but has refused to disclose what interrogation methods are used.

Sources: Reuters, Human Rights Watch

(Writing by Paul Grant, Washington Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Xavier Briand)