President George W. Bush, in his memoirs "Decision Points," reveals that he was asked for and granted permission to the CIA to waterboard Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. As you may or may not recall, KSM was reportedly waterboarded 183 times in March 2003.
President Obama announced in 2008 that he would not pursue charges against former President Bush or other government officials for war crimes related to waterboarding, even though waterboarding is generally accepted to be a form of torture. The Geneva Convention of 1949, ratified by the US, expressly prohibits torture. At the Tokyo Trials following WW II, Japanese soldiers were tried, convicted, and hanged for crimes committed against American POWs which included waterboarding.
President Bush gets blamed for a lot of things; some rightfully so, some not. With his stunning admission of authorizing waterboarding, this is one particular case where it is painfully obvious that Bush is deserving of whatever criticism he has coming. While I don't think that the former President should be hanged for his crimes and would likely be pardoned if convicted, the Justice Department would be remiss to fail to prosecute him.
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