It's Official: Bush Administration Authorised Torture

George W. Bush won't use the word. Dick Cheney won't, even in his farewell defence of all the methods of "coercive interrogation" used by US authorities since 11 Setpember 2001. Now, however, a serving official in the US Department of Defense has used it --- without any quote marks.

The US Government tortured detainees.



Speaking to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Susan Crawford, the Pentagon's convenor of military commissions, spoke about the treatment of Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi detainee who allegedly aspired to be the "20th hijacker" on 9-11:

We tortured Qahtani.

Last May, Crawford dismissed the charges against al-Qahtani for his role in the attacks. Her reason?

His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that is why I did not refer the case.