Lawmakers knew of torture techniques, didn’t object

The US military has officially regarded the tactic as torture since the Spanish-American War. In general, the technique involves strapping a prisoner to a board or other flat surface, and then raising his feet above the level of his head. A cloth is then placed over the subject’s mouth and nose, and water is poured over his face to make the prisoner believe he is drowning.

During these sessions, the agency provided information about the techniques it was using as well as the information it collected.

In May 2007, four months after Democrats regained control of Congress, four senators submitted written objections to the CIA’s use of that tactic and other, still unspecified “enhanced” techniques in two classified letters to Hayden last spring....