Most Ridiculous Moment?

Torture Watch

As first noted in my Wednesday column and Live Online , Vice President Cheney made a startling acknowledgment about torture in a Tuesday radio interview with conservative talk-show host Scott Hennen.

"Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?' Hennen asked.

"Well, it's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said.

Jonathan S. Landay wrote about the interview for McClatchy Newspapers yesterday.

Today, Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post that Cheney's comments have raised "complaints from human rights advocates that he was endorsing the use of a controversial technique known as waterboarding on prisoners held by the United States. . . .

"The comments underscore continuing uncertainty over precisely which techniques can be used legally during CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other lawmakers have said recent legislation that established ground rules for interrogations should effectively bar waterboarding and other methods that are viewed as violations of the Geneva Conventions and U.S. criminal law.

"Bush administration officials have repeatedly declined to say which techniques they believe are permitted under the new law and have steadfastly declined to discuss methods used in the past. . . .

"Neal Sonnett, chairman of an American Bar Association task force on enemy combatants, said Cheney's comments were 'a little equivocal' on details but clear in their overall meaning.

"'It may be too much to characterize it as a direct admission,' Sonnett said. 'But he is certainly suggesting that he doesn't see anything wrong with waterboarding.'"

Demetri Sevastopulo writes in the Financial Times: "Dick Cheney, US vice-president, has endorsed the use of 'water boarding' for terror suspects and confirmed that the controversial interrogation technique was used on Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the senior al-Qaeda operative now being held at Guantánamo Bay."

Mark Tran writes in the Guardian: "The US has long considered waterboarding - which dates back at least to the Spanish Inquisition - to be torture and a war crime.

"As early as 1901, a US court martial sentenced Major Edwin Glenn to 10 years hard labour for subjecting a suspected insurgent in the Philippines to the 'water cure'.