Por Stephen Foley

A cabeça da comunidade da inteligência dos E.U. veio mais perto do que todo o outro oficial na administração de Bush a comdemning a técnica da interrogação de “waterboarding” como a tortura, stoking uma fileira legal sobre seu uso pelo CIA.

O microfone McConnell, diretor dos E.U. da inteligência nacional, disse que o teste legal para a tortura deve ser “simples bonito: É excruciatingly doloroso ao ponto de forçar alguém a dizer algo por causa da dor?”

Embora waterboarding fosse considerado tortura para mais do que um século e as forças armadas dos E.U. são proibidos de a usar, o presidente George Bush defendeu “técnicas realçadas da interrogação” pelo CIA. Waterboarding is a process of controlled drowning in which a suspect’s lungs are filled with water and he is made to believe he is dying.

Controversy over whether the practice constitutes torture has put Mr Bush on a collision course with the Democrats, who want it banned. More significantly, CIA agents who have carried out waterboarding – and their superiors who approved the practice – could face legal action.

“If it ever is determined to be torture, there will be a huge penalty to be paid for anyone engaging in it,” Mr McConnell told The New Yorker magazine yesterday. “If I had water draining into my nose… oh God, I just can’t imagine how painful. Whether it is torture by anybody else’s definition, for me it would be torture.”

Last month, a former CIA officer revealed that Abu Zubaida, a senior al-Qai’da suspect, was subjected to waterboarding and broke down in about 35 seconds. John Kiriakou, who was based in Pakistan, said it “was like flipping a switch”.

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