Hayden: Waterboarding legality in doubt

[unhappycamper]

Hayden: Waterboarding legality in doubt
By Lara Jakes Jordan and Pamela Hess - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 8, 2008 10:11:06 EST

WASHINGTON — CIA Director Michael Hayden cast doubt on the legality of waterboarding Thursday, a day after the White House said the harsh interrogation tactic has saved American lives and could be used in the future.

Hayden, a retired Air Force general and former chief of staff for the service, told the House Intelligence Committee that he officially prohibited CIA operatives from using waterboarding in 2006 in the wake of a Supreme Court decision and new laws on the treatment of U.S. detainees.

He said the agency has not used waterboarding for “just a few weeks short” of five years. He officially prohibited it from CIA interrogations in 2006.

“It is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current statute,” Hayden said.

Though now legally questionable, Hayden said waterboarding was legal in 2002 and 2003, a time period when the technique was used to interrogate al-Qaida detainees.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_waterboarding_080207/



uhc comment: Methinks Mike did not read the Geneva Conventions on treatment of prisoners -->

http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6fef854a3517b75ac125641e004a9e68
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/7c4d08d9b287a42141256739003e636b/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5