In case you had any doubts that a Mitt Romney president would have restarted the Bush administration’s torture regime, here’s the audio of him answering a question about it. He doesn’t think waterboarding is torture and he’s going to go back to the “enhanced interrogation” techniques.
Q: Waterboarding: do you think it’s torture?
Romney: I don’t. … We will have a policy of doing what we think is in our best interest. We’ll use enhanced interrogation techniques that go beyond what’s in the military handbook right now.
There is no question that waterboarding is torture. Period. None. We have prosecuted many people for it over the last century, from Japanese military officers to at least one county sheriff.
By the way, this is another reason why Obama should be hammered for not prosecuting those who ordered and engaged in torture from the Bush administration, as required by the Convention Against Torture. It really does act as a deterrent. The CIA officers who did the waterboarding demanded legal coverage before they did it, which is why the infamous torture memos were written. If people are prosecuted and convicted for it, future administrations have a lot less legal wiggle room. As things stand, those who might face such choices in the future know damn well that the rule of law will not apply to them.
