John McCain blasts CIA torture hypocrites for 'rewriting history'
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday criticized his fellow Republicans and others who have defended the CIA's use of torture, accusing them of "rewriting history."
"You can't claim that tying someone to the floor and having them freeze to death is not torture," McCain said on Face the Nation, citing one of the many grisly details contained in the Senate's report on the CIA's interrogation program. Later, McCain noted it was hypocritical to claim waterboarding wasn't torture because the U.S. tried and hanged Japanese soldiers for waterboarding American prisoners in World War II.
Former Bush administration officials and many Republican lawmakers have defended the interrogation program as necessary to produce valuable intelligence, with some claiming the harsh tactics did not amount to torture. --Jon Terbush
The Week
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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.
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