Human-rights experts have long pressed the administration of former President George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice that many international legal experts say was illicit torture.
In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of the coercive technique against alleged 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human-rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for the former president.
In “Decision Points,” Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the U.S. Bush writes that his reply was “Damn right” and states that he would make the same decision again to save lives, according to someone close to Bush who has read the book.
Cherif Boussiani, an emeritus law professor at DePaul University who co-chaired the experts committee that drafted the United Nations Convention Against Torture, said Bush’s admission could theoretically expose him to prosecution. But Georgetown University law professor David Cole called prosecution unlikely.
