BUSH "We Do Not Torture" KNEW+Personally Signed Off On Waterboarding & Other Enhanced Interrogation [View All]

[kpete]

Since when can the Attorney General of the United States give "legal approval" to patently illegal acts?

CIA Chief Names Three Who Were Waterboarded; Bush Signed Off On It
by GreyHawk
Tue Feb 05, 2008 at 03:24:02 PM PST
Crossposted from ePluribus Media.

Gee, for a nation that doesn't torture, this shouldn't be happening:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CIA director on Tuesday publicly named for the first time the three suspected al Qaeda detainees who were subjected to the harsh interrogation technique of waterboarding.

"It was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. It was used on Abu Zubayda, and it was used on (Abd al-Rahim) al-Nashiri," CIA Director Michael Hayden told a Senate hearing.

..................

Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell, who also testified at the hearing, said waterboarding remains a technique in the CIA's arsenal, according to The Associated Press. He said it would require the president's consent and legal approval from the attorney general, the AP reported.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/05/terror.threat/index.html

There you have it, folks.

Bush, in his speeches where he insisted "we do not torture," constantly referred to the Attorney General's tortured definition of torture that was rewritten to exclude waterboarding, so that he could claim that "we do not torture" and still not technically lie, even though he knew he had personally signed off on Waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation" ("torture") techniques.


more at:
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/5/182045/8748/1008/450534

Earlier today, CIA Director Michael Hayden confirmed that the U.S. had subjected three detainees to waterboarding.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) thinks that’s worth exploring. And in a letter today, he called on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to open an investigation:


In light of your testimony that, "There are circumstances where waterboarding is clearly unlawful," the Justice Department should investigate the instances in which the Administration has used waterboarding to determine whether any laws were violated.... Needless to say, a Justice Department investigation should explore whether waterboarding was authorized and whether those who authorized it violated the law.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/durbin_calls_for_investigation.php#more