Breaking: DOJ Says Waterboarding NOT Legal

By Eric on February 14, 2008

So, remember how we waterboarded people? Remember how the White House defended waterboarding? Remember how Tony Fratto told us that we might use waterboarding again? Remember how AG Mukasey refused to prosecute Americans who used waterboarding because the Justice Department told them it was okay?

Well, now the Justice Department has decided that waterboarding isn’t legal anymore.

“The set of interrogation methods authorized for current use is narrower than before, and it does not today include waterboarding,” Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, says in remarks prepared for his appearance Thursday before the House Judiciary Constitution subcommittee.

“There has been no determination by the Justice Department that the use of waterboarding, under any circumstances, would be lawful under current law,” he said.

No determination by the Justice Department that waterboarding would be lawful under current law? Well, silly things like the law didn’t stop them in 2005:

Bradbury in 2005 signed two secret legal memos that authorized the CIA to use head slaps, freezing temperatures and waterboarding when questioning terror detainees. Because of that, Senate Democrats have opposed his nomination by President Bush to formally head the legal counsel’s office.

Of course, all this really means is that the next time the government uses waterboarding, we won’t hear about it.

Tags: Justice Department, Steven Bradbury, torture, waterboarding

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