Who approved the interrogation techniques?
The decisions went right up to the White House. Bush recently told ABC News in the US that he knew his top national security advisers in 2003 discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s methods. “Well, we started to connect the dots in order to protect the American people,” Bush said. “And yes, I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” According to ABC News, the national security team discussed in detail what methods should be used, down to the number of times CIA agents could employ a specific tactic. The senior officials signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al-Qaida suspects – whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to waterboarding. Who were these officials? They included Cheney; the former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice; the former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld; the former secretary of state Colin Powell; the former CIA director George Tenet; and the former attorney general John Ashcrof
