In former President George W. Bush’s brand new personal story "Decision Points," he defends waterboarding. An "enhanced interrogation technique" some have branded as torture, waterboarding was used at Abu Ghraib prison against radical Islamist prisoners who were suspected to be holding data about future terrorist attacks. Matt Lauer sat down with George Bush for an interview, and the former president restated what the nation has already heard: that waterboarding was allowed because administration lawyers said waterboarding is legal. Post resource – President Bush defends waterboarding in memoir by Personal Money Store.
Waterboarding as a precautionary gauge
After 9-11, Waterboarding became something talked about a lot. The United States intelligence community believed the threat of a repeat terrorist attack was high. There was a lot of future attack details given to President Bush by intelligence. Permission to waterboard had been requested, the president consulted with his attorneys and got the green light.
The issue that is asked is ‘Why is waterboarding legal?’
Lauer took the first step in asking the big waterboarding question when he asked Bush why he thought it had been legal. The former president responded as follows:
"Because the lawyer said it had been legal. He said it did not fall within the Anti-Torture Act. I’m not a lawyer, however you gotta trust the judgment of people around you. And I do."
According to NPR, there is still a question every person wants to know. Lauer did not ask what Americans waited for. Waterboarding was legal. Does that mean it’s "moral" though? Waterboarding is something that several nations say is torture. Several wonder if President Bush has a problem with it now considering his "born-again" Christian religion he claims to have.
There have been ‘Decision points’
Terrorism and national security being confronted needs quick decisions to be made. The decisions are issues most will never understand. World leaders have to make them each day though. Waterboarding may be legal, but its morality remains an issue for many. Slavery had been legal in America at one point also despite the fact that it was not moral. Abortion falls here too. It’s legal however the morality is questioned.
Waterboarding faces similar questions – and now, the statute of limitations has expired on the ability to prosecute over the CIA’s destruction of Abu Ghraib interrogation recordings. The obstruction of Justice can never be prosecuted. Prosecutions over waterboarding might never occur, despite the fact that President Obama has banned the practice and stated that it can no longer be ordered by a president.
Citations
NPR
npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/11/09/131184413/president-bush-would-jesus-ok-waterboarding
NPR
npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/11/09/131184522/no-one-charged-in-destruction-of-cia-interrogation-tapes?f=1001&ft=1&sc=tw
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