Karl Rove explains why CIA waterboarding wasn't torture
Karl Rove says waterboarding can be considered torture — but not in the way the CIA used it.
Critics have pointed out that the U.S. prosecuted and hanged Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American troops in World War II; Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) made that point Sunday on Face the Nation. But the longtime adviser to George W. Bush insisted that while the Japanese form of waterboarding was indeed torture, CIA interrogators made a slight tweak that rendered the procedure legal and humane.
"Unlike World War II where the Japanese attempted to drown people by basically pouring water in their mouths, here the feet were elevated so there was little or no chance of any fluid getting into the lungs," Rove said on Fox News Sunday.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
There were "very careful standards set in place so that these would help break the resistance of the detainee without placing their life in danger," he added. --Jon Terbush
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.
-
Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico’s sexual harassment problemUnder the Radar Claudia Sheinbaum vows action against sexual harassment after viral incident, but machismo and violence against women remains deeply ingrained
-
Political cartoons for November 9Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a ripoff, and the land of opportunity
-
A ‘golden age’ of nuclear powerThe Explainer The government is promising to ‘fire up nuclear power’. Why, and how?
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
