As Bush administration prepares to issue new guidelines for CIA interrogation New admissions of widespread prisoner abuse

The Bush administration is finalizing new guidelines for Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) interrogation methods that will give broad latitude for torture techniques, according to a report last week in the New York Times.

The move comes amidst fresh evidence, including a lecture by a prominent former advisor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, that the administration has sought, since 2002, to systematically implement a program of techniques that amount to torture. These techniques were used not only by the CIA in its secret prisons oversees, but also by the military in Guantánamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Times article of May 29 reports that the administration is drawing up “secret new rules governing interrogations” for the CIA. While the rules are expected to prohibit waterboarding—the most infamous of the torture techniques used by the US government and reported in the press—it will sanction “some methods that go beyond those allowed in the military by the Army Field Manual,” according to the Times.

These so-called “enhanced interrogation” methods have been strongly defended by the administration, and will likely include prolonged stress positions, exposure to harsh elements, and other examples of physical and mental torture.

The new directive follows the passage of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in September of last year. That bill, passed with substantial bipartisan support, sanctioned military tribunals and the indefinite detention of prisoners. It also modified the War Crimes Act and gave the president the explicit authority to interpret the Geneva Conventions. This was done to shield government officials from prosecution and pave the way for a presidential directive that would authorize the CIA to carry out methods that amount to violations of Common Article III of the Geneva Conventions.