By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The United States, accused of using torture on terrorism suspects, should make clearer what it permits during interrogation and what it does not, the State Department's top lawyer said on Tuesday.

John Bellinger, legal adviser at the U.S. State Department, said he was making confidential recommendations to Attorney-General Michael Mukasey and putting forth what he called his own "strong views on a number of these practices".

"As legal adviser for the State Department, I think it is a concern that the United States cannot be clearer on issues like these that are raised.

"It makes it more difficult for the United States to reaffirm our commitment to international law in the world," Bellinger told a news conference on the sidelines of the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.

This was because the United States, like other countries including Britain, does not comment on intelligence matters, according to the senior U.S. official.

"I think there is a growing recognition ... about the need for greater clarity about what is permitted and what is prohibited," he said.

Human rights groups have accused the United States of torturing suspects. Torture is illegal under the U.S. criminal code as well as under a international treaty that prohibits it under all circumstances, which the United States has ratified.

Despite President George W. Bush's assurances that he prohibits torture, it is unclear how detained suspects are treated since he refuses to disclose interrogation techniques.

A U.S. army field manual on interrogations bans internationally condemned techniques such as "waterboarding", which simulates drowning. There were reports that the CIA used waterboarding after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mukasey testified in his Senate confirmation hearing that he did not know if waterboarding was illegal torture, but that he regarded the practice as "repugnant".

The retired judge, confirmed as attorney-general earlier this month, has given "high priority" to a review of confidential U.S. techniques, according to Bellinger.

Bellinger said the U.S. army manual which issues "very clear guidance on what is permitted and what is prohibited for our troops" had followed much debate.

"There were questions raised about different practices in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and other places...There is now a long list of prohibited procedures, including a prohibition on waterboarding, which I personally welcome", he said. (Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Robert Woodward)

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