The White House's Perverse Argument

"'Any U.S. President does not have the authority to order or approve the torture of an individual. No one does. Any criminal investigation must have the power to go right to the top.' . . .

"'It has become clear in recent years that the U.S. administration has interpreted U.S. and international law in ways that have sought to avoid the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and that have facilitated impunity for human rights violations,' said Freer."

The Coverage

Greg Miller writes on the front page of the Los Angeles Times this morning: "The White House said Wednesday that the widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding is legal and that President Bush could authorize the CIA to resume using the simulated-drowning method under extraordinary circumstances.

"The surprise assertion from the Bush administration reopened a debate that many in Washington had considered closed. Two laws passed by Congress in recent years -- as well as a Supreme Court ruling on the treatment of detainees -- were widely interpreted to have banned the CIA's use of the extreme interrogation method.

"But in remarks that were greeted with disbelief by some members of Congress and human rights groups, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that waterboarding was a legal technique that could be employed again 'under certain circumstances.' . . .

"For years, White House officials denied that the U.S. had engaged in torture but always stopped short of confirming whether waterboarding had been used. The administration's latest stance -- described by Fratto during the daily White House briefing -- was denounced Wednesday by key lawmakers. 'This is a black mark on the United States,' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 'The White House is trying to give themselves as much of an open field here as possible. It says to others that we are prepared to use the same kinds of tactics used by the most repressive regimes and the most heinous regimes.'"

The issue "has been divisive politically for Republicans. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, now the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has led efforts to outlaw waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods previously employed by the CIA.

"In a recent GOP presidential debate, McCain said it was inconceivable that 'anyone could believe that [waterboarding is] not torture. It's in violation of the Geneva Convention. It's in violation of existing law.'"

Miller writes that Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, thinks that "the administration may be seeking to define a loophole in international laws banning prisoner treatment that would 'shock the conscience.' That standard, the administration might argue, could shift dramatically if there was reason to fear the country was in danger of imminent attack.

"But even so, McCain and [fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey] Graham recently signed a letter to [Attorney General Michael] Mukasey saying that it was 'beyond dispute that waterboarding "shocks the conscience." ' And other experts said it would be more difficult to make such interpretations of the Geneva Conventions and other standards.

Miller also quotes a senior U.S. intelligence official, who argues that waterboarding should not be considered torture because the U.S. military has subjected its own personnel to the method to prepare them for the possibility of being captured.

"'Tens of thousands of American Air Force and naval airmen were waterboarded as part of their survival training,' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'We don't maim as part of our training. We don't mutilate. We don't sodomize. Those are things that are always bad. . . . Intellectually, there has got to be a difference between [waterboarding] and the others; otherwise we wouldn't have done it in training.'"