Author of interrogation memo says CIA maybe went too far

As deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel in 2002, Yoo co-wrote a memo that was used as the legal justification for what the CIA called its program of enhanced interrogation techniques after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The memo said only prolonged mental harm or serious physical injury, such as organ failure, violated the Geneva Conventions' ban on torture. Aggressive interrogation methods like waterboarding fell short of that mark.

His comments on Sunday contrasted with those of Cheney and former national security officials who invoke the memo to argue that the harsh treatment of detainees was legal.

"They specifically authorized and OK'd what we did," Cheney said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"No one tortured anyone else," former CIA counterterrorism head Jose Rodriguez said on "Fox News Sunday."

The Senate Intelligence Committee's review of 6.3 million pages of CIA documents, released on Tuesday, found that some captives were deprived of sleep for more than a week, at times with their hands shackled above their heads, while others were abused sexually.

"Looking at it now, I think, of course, you can do these things cumulatively or too much that it would cross the line of the anti-torture statute," Yoo said on C-SPAN.

He questioned whether the report's findings were reliable, given that it was produced by Democrats, who had a political incentive to cherry-pick the worst examples.

The report concluded the CIA misled the White House and the public about the program and failed to disrupt a single plot. Those findings have been disputed by former CIA officials.

Cheney said that he was not concerned that the torture program ensnared victims of mistaken identity and that he had no regrets.

"I'd do it again in a minute," he said.

Reuters