Bush Administration Issued Secret Memos Approving Waterboarding
The Bush administration issued secret memos in 2003 and 2004 telling CIA officials that it approved waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques for al-Qaida suspects.
The memos remain classified, but four anonymous administration and intelligence officials told the Washington Post they existed. The documents were issued in response to concerns among intelligence officials that the White House would later distance itself from decisions about the handling of detainees.
When the first memo was issued, the CIA was already holding nine detainees in secret prisons, the story says. Three of the prisoners had been subjected to waterboarding.
The Justice Department had previously approved the CIA’s practices, but CIA officials wanted a written endorsement from White House policymakers, according to the Post account. In meetings before the second administration memo was issued, some participants appeared uncomfortable with graphic descriptions of the interrogations, the story says. One of them was Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was quoted in Jane Mayer’s book The Dark Side as saying, “History will not judge us kindly.”
