Letter of the day: Issue's not waterboarding, but Army manual

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Letter From Sen. Norm Coleman:

As a senator who has been a strong supporter of efforts to reassert that the United States does not engage in torture, I think it is important to clarify my position with respect to a provision in the Intelligence Authorization bill that seeks to apply the rules of the Army Field Manual to the CIA, which was questioned in an opinion piece published in these pages Feb. 7.

First of all, I share the view that waterboarding is torture and should never be used as an interrogation technique. I proudly voted for the Detainee Treatment Act and Military Commissions Act, which ensured that cruel and inhumane techniques such as waterboarding would not be employed against any detainee held by the United States.

I am also pleased that the CIA is no longer engaged in waterboarding. The CIA director officially prohibited waterboarding in 2006, after it had already not been used for three years.