Admin. Principals Approved Interrogation Tactics

April 9, 2008

ABC News dropped a bombshell of a news story on the principal members of the Bush administration approving specific interrogation tactics to be used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). To lift a line from the legendary Desi Arnaz as “Ricky Ricardo” in I Love Lucy — the Bush administration has some ’splainin’ to do.

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News. [...]

Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects — whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.

The high-level discussions about these “enhanced interrogation techniques” were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed — down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.

The principals included: