Ashcroft: Waterboarding is not torture

Published: July 17, 2008 at 5:12 PM
Order reprints
WASHINGTON, July 17 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft told a congressional committee Thursday that he does not believe waterboarding is torture.

Ashcroft testified before the House Judiciary Committee, CNN reported. The committee is holding hearings on whether the Bush administration permitted torture to be used on suspected terrorists.

"I believe a report of waterboarding would be serious, but I do not believe it would define torture," Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft said that as far as he knows U.S. agents used waterboarding three times on suspects who "would be labeled as high-value detainees." He said he had heard from former CIA Director George Tenet that "enhanced interrogation techniques" had yielded valuable information.

Earlier this year, President Bush vetoed a bill that would have outlawed some interrogation techniques, including waterboarding or simulated drowning. The bill would have limited the CIA to techniques allowed in the Army Field Manual.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



CPR to be taught via Nintendo Wii game (1 min)
'No Parking Zone' a red-painted fake (5 min)
Israel one win from Davis Cup semis (5 min)
Szavay among GDF Suez semifinalists (9 min)
Diets bad for teeth, bad for body (9 min)
Levi Johnston: Palin wants to make money (11 min)
Conditions in DRC provinces worsening (17 min)
fark
2001: Teacher fired for sleeping with student. 2003: Hired again by same school. 2006: Fired again...
Drunk man on tractor leads police on wild, 40-minute chase at speeds up to 12 MPH
Once suspected of causing leprosy and shunned because it's never mentioned in the Bible, the humble...
Robert Plant honored with Commander of the British Empire and promises not to boss around Jimmy...
You're worried about losing your job. Do you a) improve your performance, b) look for something...
Teenage hit-and-runner uses Self-Arrest lane to be booked and released in twenty minutes. Would...