Think Progress
Dec. 13, 2007
When asked about the practice of waterboarding at a recent debate, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani declared that he would allow “every method [interrogators] could think of and I would support them in doing it.” Attorney General Mike Mukasey consistently refused to render a legal opinion on the matter.In its December issue, the military magazine Armed Forces Journal chastises Giuliani and Mukasey for “their tacit support for waterboarding”:
Let AFJ be crystal clear on a subject where these men are opaque: Waterboarding is a torture technique that has its history rooted in the Spanish Inquisition. In 1947, the U.S. prosecuted a Japanese military officer for carrying out a form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian during World War II.
Waterboarding inflicts on its victims the terror of imminent death. And as with all torture techniques, it is, therefore, an inherently flawed method for gaining reliable information. In short, it doesn’t work. That blunt truth means all U.S. leaders, present and future, should be clear on the issue.
House passes ban on waterboarding
Think Progress
Dec. 13, 2007
In a 222-199 vote, the House today passed the FY2008 Intelligence Authorization bill, which bans waterboarding and confines the CIA “to the interrogation tactics permitted by the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations. Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s (D-NY) remarked, “[This] means no more torture, no more waterboarding, no more clever wordplay, no more evasive answers, no more dishonesty.” Watch it:
Rep. Nadler – Intelligence Authorization Bans Torture
The House is currently debating the Intelligence Authorization Conference Report, which will make new investments in intelligence personnel and enhance oversight of how intelligence is carried out. The conference report authorizes the largest amount for intelligence programs ever authorized. It would also ban torture, including waterboarding, by extending the Army Field Manual to cover all US intelligence agencies. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Chairman of Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, speaks in favor. Added: December 13, 2007
Yesterday, 30 retired generals and admirals wrote to Congress and urged lawmakers to ban waterboarding.
UPDATE: Full roll call vote HERE.
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see
Washington Post Gets it Wrong on Torture by Larry C. Johnson
Dandelion Salad 
Guantanamo and Professor Denbeaux, Goss and the CIA tapes and Giuliani