An article posted on the CNN website today revealed that previously secret memoranda publicly released today, which had been obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, showed that the US Department of Justice worked hand in hand with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to justify methods of interrogation that were historically recognized as torture.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/cia.torture/index/html 

Former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee advised the CIA in 2002 in a Justice Department memo that its interrogators will not be in violation of U.S. prohibitions on torture "unless they have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering..." . The Justice Department advised that the interrogator's "good faith" belief that an interrogation would not cause such suffering would protect such interrogators from being prosecuted for torture.  Essentially our Justice Department was informing the interrogators that the easy way out from being prosecuted for torture was to just say with a straight face that if there was any use of excess force the interrogator did not envision it causing any pain or suffering.  It is sad to see our Department of Justice trying to look for loopholes to serve as a safe harbor to commit human rights abuses.  By justifying techniques such as waterboarding - simulated drowning,  we are making it more likely that our brave men and women in uniform become victims of torture and other unfair and illegal practices while they try to defend our nation at war.