Prior to three known instances of waterboarding, a Justice Department lawyer signed a secret legal opinion claiming terror detainees were not protected by the Geneva Convention's ban on torture.
3 AQ operatives were waterboarded in 2002-03, with the direct approval of President Bush.
In 2004, that secret legal opinion was rescinded. Subsequent to that rescind, the DOJ signed other legal opinions declaring that extreme interrogation methods could be authorized by the President.
In 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that Gitmo detainees were subject to the protections of the Geneva Convention.
In 2006, the CIA banned waterboarding from its bag of tricks.
In 2008, the House Judiciary Committee asked the AG if he was going to prosecute interrogators who waterboarded. He replied that the
Justice Department could not investigate or prosecute people for actions that it had authorized earlier. All above paraphrased from here:
Cheney Defends U.S. Use Of Waterboarding - CBS News
In 2006, passage of the Military Commissions Act provided retroactive legal protection to those who carried out waterboarding and other coercive interrogation techniques. Excerpted from:
Waterboarding Historically Controversial - washingtonpost.com
Here’s a citation for the Military Commissions Act:
Military Commissions Act of 2006 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In January 2009, Obama specifically made waterboarding illegal. (I find it interesting that our President can write laws….)
Waterboarding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In 2009, Obama assures the CIA that no one will be prosecuted for extreme interrogation methods that were deemed legal at the time.
FoxNews.com - Obama Administration Says No Charges Against CIA Officials for Waterboarding
Actually one can't look at this timeline and
not believe that laws were broken. Or, at the very least, that there was a massive CYA going on "just in case."
So, me personally? I'm back to this, my original post on this thread: