Department of Justice under the George W. Bush administration issued secret opinions (in 2002 and 2005) finding that waterboarding and other so-called enhanced interrogation techniques did not constitute torture.
On the basis of the 2002 opinion (subsequently rescinded), it authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to use such techniques against suspected terrorists held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in secret prisons in other countries.
"Twenty years of practising arbitrary detention without trial accompanied by torture or ill treatment is simply unacceptable for any government, particularly a government which has a stated claim to protecting human rights," said the independent experts, appointed by the Human Rights Council.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Human Rights Watch asserted that waterboarding can cause the sort of "severe pain" prohibited by 18 U.S.C. What are human rights? As such, they are prohibited by American laws and values, and I oppose them. The city last year alone approved a $12.3 million settlement to a pair of Burge’s victims who are among the 120 known black victims of Burge’s ring.