Enhanced Interrogation Techniques - History of Approval By The Bush Administration

History of Approval By The Bush Administration

In early 2002, following Abu Zubaydah's capture, assertedly Jose Rodriguez head of the CIA's clandestine service, asked his superiors for authorization for what Rodriquez called an "alternative set of interrogation procedures." Top US Government officials including Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Ashcroft discussed at length whether or not the CIA could legally use harsh techniques against Abu Zubaydah. Condoleezza Rice specifically mentioned the SERE program during the meeting stating "I recall being told that U.S. military personnel were subjected to training to certain physical and psychological interrogation techniques…"

ABC News reported on April 9, 2008 that "the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency." The article states that those involved included:

Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

In addition, in 2002 and 2003, several Democratic congressional leaders were briefed on the proposed "enhanced interrogation techniques." These congressional leaders included Nancy Pelosi, the future Speaker of the House, and Representative Jane Harman. Congressional officials have stated that the attitude in the briefings was "quiet acquiescence, if not downright support." Senator Bob Graham, who CIA records claim was present at the briefings, has stated that he was not briefed on waterboarding in 2002 and that CIA attendance records clash with his personal journal. Harman was the only congressional leader to object to the tactics being proposed. It is of note that in a 2007 report by investigator Dick Marty on secret CIA prisons, the phrase "enhanced interrogations" was stated to be a euphemism for torture. The documents show that top U.S. Officials were intimately involved in the discussion and approval of the harsher interrogation techniques used on Abu Zubaydah.

Condoleezza Rice ultimately told the CIA the harsher interrogation tactics were acceptable, In 2009 Rice stated, "We never tortured anyone." And Dick Cheney stated "I signed off on it; so did others." In 2010, Cheney remained unrepentant, saying, "I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program." Pressed on his personal view of waterboarding, Karl Rove told the BBC in 2010: "I’m proud that we kept the world safer than it was, by the use of these techniques. They’re appropriate, they’re in conformity with our international requirements and with US law." During the discussions John Ashcroft is reported as saying "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

At least some Bush administration officials opposed the interrogation techniques, including notably Condoleezza Rice's most senior advisor Philip Zelikow. Upon learning details of the program Zelikow authored a memo contesting the Justice Department's Torture Memos, believing them wrong both legally and as a matter of policy. Zelikow's memo warned that the interrogation techniques breached US law, and could lead to prosecutions for war crimes. The Bush Administration attempted to collect all of the copies of Zelikow's memo and destroy them. Jane Mayer, author of the Dark Side, quotes Zelikow as predicting subsequently that "America's descent into torture will in time be viewed like the Japanese internments", in that "(f)ear and anxiety were exploited by zealots and fools."