Last time we checked in with Steven Bradbury, the guy who tells the administration how far they can legally go (the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel), he was explaining to Congress that the waterboarding technique used by the CIA on detainees was nothing at all like the “water cure” technique used by the Spanish Inquisition (it’s actually similar to the Khmer Rouge). He also explained in detail his reasoning for why waterboarding was not in violation of the criminal statute barring torture.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=177862