George W. Bush

==== Interrogation policies ====
{{See also|Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture|Torture Memos}}

Bush authorized the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] to use [[waterboarding]] and several other "[[enhanced interrogation techniques]]" that several critics, including Barack Obama, would label as torture.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Talev |first1=Margaret |author2=Marisa Taylor |date=April 23, 2009 |access-date=June 23, 2009 |title=Bush-era interrogations: From waterboarding to forced nudity |newspaper=McClatchyDC |url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article24534550.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208212311/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article24534550.html |archive-date=December 8, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author-link=Mark Mazzetti |first=Mark |last=Mazzetti |url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/secret-interrogation-memos-to-be-released/ |title=Obama Releases Interrogation Memos, Says C.I.A. Operatives Won't Be Prosecuted |work=The New York Times |date=April 16, 2009 |access-date=June 23, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417194704/http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/secret-interrogation-memos-to-be-released/ |archive-date=April 17, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-torture7feb07,1,3156438.story |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 30, 2008 |last=Miller |first=Greg |title=Waterboarding is legal, White House says |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212181334/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-torture7feb07%2C1%2C3156438.story |archive-date=February 12, 2008 |date=February 7, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/politics/cia-documents-torture/index.html |title=New documents shine light on CIA torture methods |first=Ryan |last=Browne |publisher=CNN |access-date=December 12, 2021 |date=June 15, 2016 |archive-date=December 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211212223125/https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/politics/cia-documents-torture/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 2002 and 2003, the CIA considered certain enhanced interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to be legal based on secret Justice Department legal opinions arguing that terror detainees were not protected by the [[Geneva Conventions]]' ban on torture, which was described as "an unconstitutional infringement of the President's authority to conduct war".<ref name="cbs-waterboard">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cheney-defends-us-use-of-waterboarding/ |title=Cheney Defends U.S. Use Of Waterboarding |access-date=May 1, 2008 |date=February 8, 2008 |publisher=CBS News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080211123715/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/08/national/main3807334.shtml |archive-date=February 11, 2008 |url-status=live |agency=CBS/AP }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cheney-rumsfeld-bush-officials-claim-credit-nabbing-bin-laden-talk-waterboarding-article-1.143079|title=Cheney, Rumsfeld, other Bush officials claim credit for nabbing Bin Laden, talk up waterboarding|last=Kennedy|first=Helen|date=May 8, 2011|newspaper=Daily News|access-date=April 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818114650/http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/cheney-rumsfeld-bush-officials-claim-credit-nabbing-bin-laden-talk-waterboarding-article-1.143079|archive-date=August 18, 2006|location=New York}}</ref> The CIA had exercised the technique on certain key terrorist suspects under authority given to it in the [[Bybee Memo]] from the Attorney General, though that memo was later withdrawn.<ref name="certain_olc">{{cite web |url=http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/memostatusolcopinions01152009.pdf |title=Memorandum for the Files: Re: Status of Certain OLC Opinions Issued in the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 |first=Steven G. |last=Bradbury |author-link=Steven G. Bradbury |access-date=May 12, 2009 |publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]] |date=January 15, 2009 |archive-date=May 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508100811/http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/memostatusolcopinions01152009.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> While not permitted by the [[U.S. Army Field Manuals]] which assert "that harsh interrogation tactics elicit unreliable information",<ref name="cbs-waterboard" /> the Bush administration believed these enhanced interrogations "provided critical information" to preserve American lives.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/05/india.terrorism |title=CIA admit 'waterboarding' al-Qaida suspects |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=February 21, 2008 |last=Tran |first=Mark |location=London |date=February 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818114650/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/05/india.terrorism |archive-date=August 18, 2006 }}</ref> Critics, such as former CIA officer [[Bob Baer]], have stated that information was suspect, "you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture's bad enough."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Investigation/story?id=1322866 |access-date=July 26, 2009 |title=CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described |first1=Brian |last1=Ross |first2=Richard |last2=Esposito |date=November 18, 2005 |work=ABC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818114650/http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Investigation/story?id=1322866 |archive-date=August 18, 2006 }}</ref>

On October 17, 2006, Bush signed the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006]] into law.<ref name="detainee">{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-28-congress-terrorism_x.htm |title=Bush's detainee interrogation and prosecution plan approved by Senate |access-date=September 1, 2008 |agency=Associated Press |date=September 28, 2005 |work=USA Today |archive-date=October 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007104328/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-28-congress-terrorism_x.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The new rule was enacted in the wake of the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court's]] decision in ''[[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]]'', {{ussc|548|557|2006}},<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/opinion/28thu1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307071657/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/opinion/28thu1.html |archive-date=March 7, 2008 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Rushing Off a Cliff|date=September 28, 2006|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 17, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> which allowed the U.S. government to prosecute [[unlawful combatant|unlawful enemy combatants]] by military commission rather than a standard trial. The law also denied the detainees access to ''[[habeas corpus]]'' and barred the torture of prisoners. The provision of the law allowed the president to determine what constitutes "torture".<ref name="detainee" />

On March 8, 2008, Bush vetoed H.R. 2082,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.2082.ENR: |title=Bill Text: 110th Congress (2007–2008): H.R.2082.ENR |work=THOMAS |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=October 27, 2010 |archive-date=December 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131209034910/http://www.thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.2082.ENR: }}</ref> a bill that would have expanded congressional oversight over the intelligence community and banned the use of waterboarding as well as other forms of interrogation not permitted under the [[FM 34-52 Intelligence Interrogation|United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations]], saying that "the bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the War on Terror".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23526436 |title=Bush vetoes bill banning waterboarding |agency=Associated Press |publisher=NBC News |date=March 8, 2008 |access-date=July 29, 2012 }}</ref> In April 2009, the ACLU sued and won release of the secret memos that had authorized the Bush administration's interrogation tactics.<ref name="Ass'tAtt'yGen'lBybeeMemo">{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/cia.torture/|title=Previously secret torture memo released|date=July 24, 2008|access-date=July 29, 2012|publisher=CNN}}</ref> One memo detailed specific interrogation tactics including a footnote that described waterboarding as torture as well as that the form of waterboarding used by the CIA was far more intense than authorized by the Justice Department.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/bush-memo-footnotes-defin_n_188008.html |title=Bush memo footnotes define waterboarding as torture |newspaper=HuffPost |access-date=July 26, 2009 |first=Sam |last=Stein |date=April 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818114650/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/16/bush-memo-footnotes-defin_n_188008.html |archive-date=August 18, 2006 }}</ref>