The White House is defending the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding in certain, rare circumstances when suspects are believed to have knowledge of an imminent threat. The Central Intelligence Agency now admits it used the technique roughly five years ago on three top terror suspects. White House spokesman Tony Fratto says President Bush personally authorized the disclosure - breaking with the long-standing practice in the administration of refusing comment on specific interrogation techniques. He says the decision to have Central Intelligence Agency chief Michael Hayden go before a Congressional committee and reveal the use of waterboarding in the past was difficult, because it could provide the enemy with information about the CIA's program for questioning terror suspects. Critics have called waterboarding a form of torture . But Fratto says its use in the past under the conditions approved by the attorney general and the president was legal. On Capitol Hill, a senior Democrat - Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois - denounced the use of waterboarding under any circumstances. He noted that in its annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department is quick to condemn other nations that use harsh interrogation techniques on prisoners. The U.N.'s torture investigator also responded to the CIA disclosure, calling on the Bush administration to give up its defense of enhanced interrogation methods such as waterboarding. Manfred Nowak told the Associated Press in Geneva that these techniques are totally unacceptable under international law.
The is defending the use of the technique known as in certain, rare circumstances when suspects are believed to have knowledge of an imminent threat. The now admits it used the technique roughly five years ago on three top terror suspects. White House spokesman says President Bush personally authorized the disclosure - breaking with the long-standing practice in the administration of refusing comment on specific interrogation techniques. He says the decision to have Central Intelligence Agency chief go before a and reveal the use of waterboarding in the past was difficult, because it could provide the enemy with information about the CIA's program for questioning terror suspects. Critics have called waterboarding a form of . But Fratto says its use in the past under the conditions approved by the attorney general and the president was legal. On Capitol Hill, a senior Democrat - Senator of Illinois - denounced the use of waterboarding under any circumstances. He noted that in its annual human rights report, the U.S. State Department is quick to condemn other nations that use harsh interrogation techniques on prisoners. The U.N.'s torture investigator also responded to the CIA disclosure, calling on the Bush administration to give up its defense of enhanced interrogation methods such as waterboarding. told the Associated Press in Geneva that these techniques are totally unacceptable under international law.
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White House
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interrogation
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waterboarding
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Central Intelligence Agency
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Tony Fratto
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Michael Hayden
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Congressional committee
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torture
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Dick Durbin
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Manfred Nowak