Tidigare CIA-chef slår tillbaka om tortyr

Waterboarding is a form of water torture in which water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the individual to experience the sensation of drowning. Waterboarding can cause extreme pain, dry drowning, damage to lungs, brain damage from oxygen deprivation, other physical injuries including broken bones due to struggling against restraints, lasting psychological damage, and death. Adverse physical consequences can manifest themselves months after the event, while psychological effects can last for years. In the most common method of waterboarding, the captive's face is covered with cloth or some other thin material, and the subject is immobilized on their back at an incline of 10 to 20 degrees. Torturers pour water onto the face over the breathing passages, causing an almost immediate gag reflex and creating a drowning sensation for the captive. Vomitus travels up the esophagus, which may then be inhaled. Victims of waterboarding are at extreme risk of sudden death due to the aspiration of vomitus. The term water board torture appeared in press reports as early as 1976. In late 2007, it was widely reported that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was waterboarding extrajudicial prisoners and that the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, had authorized the procedure among enhanced interrogation techniques. The CIA confirmed having waterboarded three Al-Qaeda suspects: Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, in 2002 and 2003. In August 2002 and March 2003, in its war on terror, the George W. Bush administration, through Jay S. Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, issued what became known as the Torture Memos after being leaked in 2004. These legal opinions (including the 2002 Bybee memo) argued for a narrow definition of torture under US law. The first three were addressed to the CIA, which took them as authority to use the described enhanced interrogation techniques (more generally classified as torture) on detainees classified as enemy combatants. Five days before the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, John Yoo, the acting Office of Legal Counsel, issued a fourth memo to the General Counsel of DOD, concluding his legal opinion by saying that federal laws related to torture and other abuse did not apply to interrogations overseas. The legal opinions were withdrawn by Jack Goldsmith of the OLC in June 2004 but reaffirmed by the succeeding head of the OLC in December 2004. US government officials at various times said they did not believe waterboarding to be a form of torture. In 2006, the Bush administration banned torture including waterboarding on detainees. In January 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a similar ban on the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture in interrogations of detainees. In April 2009, the U.S. Department of Defense refused to say whether waterboarding is still used for training (e.g., SERE) US military personnel in resistance to interrogation. In December 2014, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issued a declassified 500 page summary of its still classified 6,700 page report on the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Detention and Interrogation Program. The report concluded that "the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation techniques (EIT) was not effective for acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees." According to the report, the CIA had presented no credible proof that information obtained through waterboarding or the other harsh interrogation methods that the CIA employed prevented any attacks or saved any lives. There was no evidence that information obtained from the detainees through EIT was not or could not have been obtained through conventional interrogation methods. In June 2015, in response to a critical assessment of China in the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report, China noted that the U.S., among other alleged human rights abuses, engaged in torture of terrorism suspects, specifically by waterboarding. In 2015, various Republican presidential candidates indicated their willingness to bring back waterboarding as an interrogation technique. Donald Trump (the eventual winner of the election) stated he believed in the effectiveness of the technique. Trump also stated that it is a "minimal" form of torture, and that it was necessary. Ben Carson had not ruled out approving its use and nor did Jeb Bush. Carly Fiorina endorsed its use, as did Rick Perry and Rick Santorum.

Leon Edward Panetta, född 28 juni 1938 i Monterey, Kalifornien, är en amerikansk politiker, jurist och professor. Han var USA:s försvarsminister mellan den 1 juli 2011 och den 27 februari 2013 i president Barack Obamas kabinett. Han var ledamot av USA:s representanthus 1977-1993, chef för Office of Management and Budget 1993-1994, Vita husets stabschef 1994-1997 under USA:s president Bill Clinton och chef för Central Intelligence Agency 2009-2011. Han var professor i statsvetenskap vid Santa Clara University. Han är också direktör för Panetta Institute som han själv har grundat. Panetta är son till strikt katolska invandrare från Italien. Han gick först i katolska skolor i Monterey och sedan i en offentlig high school. Han avlade 1960 sin grundexamen och 1963 juristexamen vid Santa Clara University. Efter studietiden tjänstgjorde Panetta i USA:s armé. Han inledde 1966 sin politiska karriär som medarbetare åt senator Thomas Kuchel. Han var därefter medarbetare åt hälso-, utbildnings- och välfärdsministern Robert Finch 1969-1970. Panetta var ännu medarbetare åt borgmästaren i New York John Lindsay 1970-1971, innan han 1971 bytte parti från republikanerna till demokraterna. Panetta arbetade sedan som advokat i hemstaden Monterey på advokatbyrån Panetta, Thompson & Panetta fram till 1976. I representanthuset avancerade Panetta till ordförande i budgetutskottet 1989-1993. Med Bill Clintons ämbetstillträde som USA:s president blev han federal förvaltnings- och budgetdirektör från 1993 till 1994. Som stabschef spelade han en central roll i förhandlingarna som ledde till 1996 års statsbudget, en budget som innebar ett viktigt steg i riktning mot budgetbalans. Panetta deltog i arbetet av Iraq Study Group som i december 2006 publicerade sina rekommendationer för en ny strategi i Irakkriget.