Former President George W. Bush knew about and authorized the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other controversial tactics, according to Karl Rove, Bush’s former top political adviser.
{mosads}A report released last week by the Senate Intelligence Committee asserted that Bush was kept in the dark about the agency’s rough treatment of detainees until 2006.
Rove on Sunday disputed that claim.
“No. In fact … his book describes how he was briefed and intimately involved in the decision,” Rove said on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to the former president’s book, Decision Points.
“He made the decision,” Rove said. “He was presented, I believe, 12 techniques. He authorized the use of 10 of them, including waterboarding.”
Bush admitted during an appearance at The Economic Club of Grand Rapids in 2010 that his administration waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who organized the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on New York City and the Pentagon.
“I’d do it again to save lives,” he said.
Rove argued the Senate report presents a misleading narrative of the CIA’s practices because investigators did not speak to senior Bush administration officials.
“It is illustrative of the problem of this report. They talked to no one,” he said.