WASHINGTON — The White House on Wednesday defended the use of the interrogation technique known as waterboarding, saying it is legal — not torture, as critics argue — and has saved American lives.
President Bush could author ize waterboarding for future terrorism suspects if certain criteria are met, a spokesman said.
A day earlier, the Bush administration acknowledged publicly for the first time that the tactic was used by U.S. government questioners on three terrorism suspects. Testifying before Congress, CIA Director Michael Hayden said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were subjected to waterboarding in 2002 and 2003.
Waterboarding involves strapping a suspect down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back hundreds of years, to the Spanish Inquisition, and is condemned by nations around the world.
Hayden banned the technique in 2006 for CIA interrogations, the Pentagon has banned its employees from using it, and FBI Director Robert Mueller said his investigators do not use coercive tactics in interviewing terrorism suspects.
Senate Democrats demanded a criminal investigation after Hayden’s revelation.
Bush personally authorized Hayden’s testimony, White House deputy spokesman Tony Fratto said.
Fratto said CIA interrogators could use waterboarding again but would need the president’s approval to do so. Appropriate members of Congress would be notified in such a case.
Fratto said waterboarding’s use in the past was also approved by the attorney general, meaning it was legal and not torture.
Manfred Nowak, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture, condemned the White House.
“This is absolutely unacceptable under international human-rights law,” he said.
