A top aide to former US president George W. Bush has defended the use of harsh interrogation techniques, insisting he is “proud” of the methods and that they had helped prevent terrorist attacks.
Karl Rove also told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Thursday that he did not believe waterboarding — a simulated drowning method — amounted to torture.
“I’m proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists and gave us valuable information that allowed us to foil plots,” Rove said.
“I am proud that we kept the world safer than it was by the use of these techniques. They are appropriate, they are in conformity with our international requirements and with US law,” he said.
“Flying airplanes into Heathrow and into London ... bringing down aircraft over the Pacific, flying an airplane into the tallest building in Los Angeles” were all terror plots that were thwarted by tough interrogation, he said.
Asked specifically whether he thought waterboarding was torture, he replied: “No it’s not. People need to read the memos that outline what was permissible and not permissible before they make a judgment about these things.”
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