Rice approved CIA waterboarding

Evidence that Condoleezza Rice approved CIA water boarding to interrogate terrorist suspects has whipped up the current US political storm. The simulated drowning of suspects to extract information has now been declared illegal by the Obama administration. Although the new president has said CIA operatives who followed orders would not be prosecuted, those who developed the technique and those who approved its use might be.

“I will not permit the criminalisation of policy differences,” said US Attorney General Eric Holder. “However, it is my responsibility as the Attorney General to enforce the law. If I see wrongdoing, I will pursue it to the full extent of the law and I will do that in an appropriate way.”

Rice gave her approval when she was National Security Adviser and was supported by the then-Vice President Dick Cheney. He now wants more documents to be published showing that the water boarding of terrorist suspects such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, provided useful information. A new report has now linked the CIA’s policy on interrogation methods to the abuse of inmates at Guantanamo Bay.

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tags: USA