Waterboarding

20 May 2008 -- A U.S. Justice Department report says Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raised concerns about controversial interrogation techniques other U.S. agencies used on terror suspects.

The report, issued Tuesday, describes frequent clashes between the FBI and the military and Central Intelligence Agency over interrogation methods used in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Guantanamo protest, Washington, D.C.: Photo by Keith Ivey (CC)

It says the FBI raised concerns about questionable tactics including the use of snarling dogs and forced nudity.    » read more »

April 10, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy released the following statement in response to new reports that high-ranking members in the Bush Administration authorized the use of torture in CIA interrogations.

“Today’s press reports bring yet another astonishing disclosure about the Bush administration and its use of torture.

Anti-Bush, anti-torture protester: Photo by jarnocan (CC)    » read more »

Including A Provision Limiting The CIA To Interrogation Techniques Authorized In The Army Field Manual

February 13, 2008 -- This Report contains a provision that reinforces the prohibition against our Government engaging in torture. It expressly prohibits interrogation techniques that are not authorized by the United States Army Field Manual.    » read more »

February 12, 2008 -- [Washington, D.C.] -- Today Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called for the Justice Department's Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the role of Justice Department officials in authorizing and overseeing the use of waterboarding by the CIA.

Text of letter appears below:

February 12, 2008

The Honorable Glenn A. Fine
Inspector General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530

The Honorable H. Marshall Jarrett
Counsel for Professional Responsibility    » read more »

Urges President to Remove Veto Threat from Intelligence Authorization Bill

February 12, 2008 -- Washington, DC — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today called on President Bush to remove his threat to veto the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Authorization Bill, which applies the U.S. Army standards for interrogation to U.S. intelligence agencies and contractors, and bans the practice of waterboarding. In a letter to the President, Senator Clinton urged him to live up to the standards that America has promoted around the world.    » read more »

February 11, 2008 -- The Defense Department announced today that charges have been sworn against six detainees at Guantanamo, alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks upon the United States of America which occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. Those attacks resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 people. The charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al Qaeda to attack the United States.    » read more »

February 8, 2008 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today urged the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Michael McConnell to provide the transcript of a recent interview with New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright. At issue is the exact conversation held between Director McConnell and Wright over the subject of waterboarding. Senator Feinstein questioned Director McConnell about this exchange during the open Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Following is the text of the letter sent by Senator Feinstein to DNI McConnell:    » read more »

07 February 2008 -- Lawmakers pressed the U.S. attorney general on Thursday for more specifics about the legal justifications used by the Bush administration in authorizing the past use of the extreme interrogation technique known as waterboarding. The subject was also a major topic in congressional hearings, and the focus of more questions at a White House briefing, as the debate continues over interrogation techniques.    » read more »

February 6, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Following recent statements by the U.S. Attorney General and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) reiterated his call for the Senate to support the National Security with Justice Act (S.1876), legislation that prohibits all United States personnel from using on a detainee any interrogation technique not expressly authorized by the Army Field Manual on Intelligence Interrogation.    » read more »

06 February 2008 -- 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.    » read more »

February 5, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. -- In response to CIA Director Hayden’s admission today that the Administration has used waterboarding on three detainees, Senator Dick Durbin called for the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation of the Administration’s use of waterboarding.    » read more »

05 February 2008 -- The director of the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed that his agency used the extreme interrogation technique known as waterboarding on three terrorism suspects nearly five years ago. In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Michael Hayden urged lawmakers not to place restrictions on the interrogation methods available to U.S. intelligence agencies.

Director Hayden's testimony was the most detailed description to date of the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation techniques.    » read more »

January 30, 2008 -- "I had hoped today would provide more clarity on so many critical issues. Instead, we heard references to legal opinions, justifications, and facts that remain hidden from Congress and the American people.

It is a hallmark of our democracy that we say publicly what the laws are and what conduct they prohibit. We have seen what happens when hidden decisions rendered in secret memos are withheld from the people’s elected representatives and from the American people. It erodes our civil liberties and undermines our values as a nation of laws.    » read more »

January 23, 2008 -- [Washington, D.C.] – All ten Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee today sent a letter, written by Assistant Majority Leader and Judiciary Committee member Dick Durbin (D-IL), to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking that he provide an opinion as to whether the interrogation technique known as waterboarding is illegal under U.S. law.    » read more »

January 23, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy and nine Senate colleagues sent the following letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, asking him to clarify his positions on waterboarding and other interrogation techniques.    » read more »