PAMELA HESS, AP News
With Congress’ approval of a new attorney general who refused to describe waterboarding as torture, the U.S. Army has sent out a message to its leaders repeating that the interrogation technique is prohibited in the military.
The service issued the Nov. 6 message “to eliminate any confusion that may have arisen as a result of recent public discourse on the subject.”
The U.S. military formally banned waterboarding as an interrogation technique in September 2006.
However, at Senate confirmation hearings last month, then-attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey repeatedly refused to say whether he considers waterboarding a form of torture, as claimed by an unlikely coalition of military officials, doctors and humans rights groups.