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US AG Holder reaffirms 'no waterboarding' policy

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday reaffirmed his opposition to waterboarding as an acceptable interrogation device. In a speech before the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Holder emphasized the need to return to the ideals of the US.As I unequivocally stated in my confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate, waterboarding is torture. My Justice Department will not justify it, rationalize it, or condone it. The sanction of torture is at odds with the history of American jurisprudence and American principles. It undermines our ability to pursue justice fairly, and it puts our own brave soldiers in peril should they ever be captured on a foreign battlefield.Holder previously condemned waterboarding as torture during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. President Barack Obama has also not ruled out prosecution of senior Bush officials for crimes allegedly committed during the administration. In January, outgoing Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Michael Hayden defended the controversial interrogation techniques used to gather information in the "war on terror," including waterboarding, a practice Hayden banned from use in 2006. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) released three memos in July 2008 indicating that certain harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, are lawful and that those who employ them in good faith lack the specific intent required to be charged with torture, in direct opposition to the 2006 Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations, which prohibits waterboarding. In February 2008, the DOJ launched an internal probe into whether top department officials improperly approved the CIA's use of waterboarding. In 2007, former CIA director George Tenet denied that torture was used in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks while refusing to go into details of technique. Former attorney general Michael Mukasey repeatedly refused to say whether waterboarding was torture. Later in 2007, retired CIA agent John Kiriakou confirmed the use of waterboarding on al Gaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).