Obama: Waterboarding Is Torture

That torture is still being debated is Obama's fault, says Andrew Cohen

(NEWSER) - Just a day after Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann said they supported waterboarding , President Obama re-affirmed that the procedure is torture and "contrary to America's traditions," reports the AP . Obama and his administration have said that waterboarding is torture and illegal since taking office, but after several Republican candidates revived the subject in Saturday night's foreign policy debate, the president re-stated his position in a news conference at Hawaii's APEC meeting. More»

Waterboarding helped lead us to bin Laden: Linda Chavez

(NEWSER) - Waterboarding played a role in leading us to Osama bin Laden, writes Linda Chavez. So why is the Obama administration still pursuing its investigation of CIA interrogators, she wonders at the Washington Examiner . These agents deserve thanks, not punishment. The Obama administration must know it doesn't make sense: "The president is perfectly willing to kill terrorists but not willing to waterboard them?" More»

Former VP's defense of torture full of half-truths, falsehoods: Froomkin

(NEWSER) - Since leaving government, Dick Cheney has realized that TV and newspapers will report anything he says, writes Dan Froomkin for the Huffington Post, even though "he is a monstrous liar”—remember Saddam's WMDs? "After years of speaking in whispers, operating by proxy, and leaving as few fingerprints as possible," Cheney can't seem to shut up—and no matter what he's selling, the media "will fail to put it in any context whatsoever." More»

(NEWSER) - Fidel Castro thinks those creative forms of interrogation used by the US amount to torture, and he criticized Dick Cheney for defending them, the AP reports. In an online essay, Castro argued that torture should never be used to get information from terror suspects. In fact, he went one better and accused the US of acts of terrorism against Cuba, citing the Bay of Pigs invasion as one of his examples. More»

Says he's 'firm proponent' of 'enhanced interrogation program'

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney offered an “answer” to President Obama’s national-security speech today, standing up for the policies of the Bush administration and saying he remained “a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program,” CNN reports. “In the fight against terrorism,” Cheney said, “there is no middle ground, and half-measures leave you half-exposed,” Politico adds. President Bush aimed to ensure 9/11 wasn’t “a prelude to something worse.” More»