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Attorney General Rejects Probe of Waterboarding

Feb 11th, 2008 • Posted in: News

But U.N. human rights chief hints that other nations could pursue action against CIA

WASHINGTON
U.S. attorney general Michael Mukasey last week rejected calls by Congress for an investigation of the CIA’s use of waterboarding, a highly controversial interrogation technique akin to controlled drowning.

According to the Washington Post, Mukasey told a congressional panel that Defense Department lawyers concluded that the use of the waterboarding in 2002 and 2003 was legal, and therefore the government cannot investigate whether a crime had occurred.

The issue resurfaced after CIA director Michael Hayden confirmed earlier in the week that the agency had used the technique, ABC News reported.

Mukasey also refused a congressional request to see the Justice Department legal opinions, reports Congressional Quarterly, potentially creating a constitutional showdown over the legislative branch’s access to executive branch documents.

Waterboarding has been condemned by critics as being a form of torture — a view echoed late last week by United Nations high commissioner for human rights Louise Arbour.

Arbour told a news conference in Mexico City that she “would have no problems with describing this practice as falling under the prohibition of torture,” according to the Reuters news agency.

Reacting to Mukasey’s contention that CIA officials who used waterboarding would not be prosecuted, Arbour apparently left open the door to international action, noting that violators of the U.N. Convention Against Torture could be prosecuted under the principle of “universal jurisdiction,” which allows countries to try accused war criminals from other nations, according to the Reuters report.

Sources: Reuters, Feb. 8 — Washington Post, Feb. 8 — Congressional Quarterly, Feb. 8 — ABC News, Feb. 7.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Dec. 17, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 5, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 5, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Oct. 22, 2007 — Related Newsline story, July 23, 2007.

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1. Ethics Newsline » News » Religious Leaders Mount Campaign Against Torture on May 13th, 2008 at 12:46 am:

   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, Feb. 11 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 4 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 31, 2007 [...]

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