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Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice 'authorised waterboarding torture of Al Qaeda prisoners' William Lowther / Daily Mail | April 11, 2008 The White House was directly implicated for the first time last night in the decision to torture Al Qaeda prisoners. Sources say that Vice President Dick Cheney and a handful of other top politicians met in secret and agreed to the mistreatment of prisoners, according to ABC TV News and the Associated Press. As part of the decision-making process, they were given demonstrations of the techniques used. (Article continues below)
And as a direct result, the CIA was given the go-ahead to punch suspected terrorists, deprive them of sleep, and practise waterboarding - simulated drowning. According to the sources, Mr Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Attorney General John Ashcroft met in the White House following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. They agreed to authorise what they call "enhanced interrogation techniques" as the Bush administration has defined "torture" only as actions which are designed to cause serious injury or death. However, experts have said that waterboarding is so horrific that even the most hardened terrorists have not been able to stand it for more than a minute without begging to talk. While there have long been suspicions that the White House was involved in the decision, the actions have until now been blamed on the CIA and unnamed officials at the Pentagon. Voters in the US has been so disgusted at the use of torture that there will now be great pressure to prosecute the White House leadership - especially Mr Cheney, who is generally seen as the most hardline of the alleged offenders. President George Bush does not seem to have been present at the meetings and great precautions appear to have been taken to keep him out of the decision-making process. But there was speculation last night that Mr Cheney - who is very close to the president - would almost certainly have told him in secret. It is claimed that the decision could not have been made without his implicit consent. According to ABC there were literally dozens of White House meetings to discuss the treatment of suspected terrorists. According to the sources, Mr Ashcroft – the nation's chief legal officer at the time – ruled that the interrogation techniques were legal. However, he said he was worried by the White House meetings to discuss them. He argued that senior presidential advisers should not be involved in the grim details. At one meeting he apparently said: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly." Mr Bush has said repeatedly that the United States does not condone the use of torture. However, the techniques used to extract information from prisoners are undeniably controversial. Waterboarding was pioneered in the Dutch East Indies in the 16th century. Prisoners are strapped to a board and turned upside down as water is streamed over a cloth wrapped around or inserted into their mouths. The effect is akin to gagging or choking, and the process rapidly induces the most extreme panic in those subjected to it. CLICK ON THE BANNER TO BUY TERRORSTORM IN |
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