Editing Condoleezza Rice (section)

===Role in authorizing use of torture===
A [[Senate Intelligence Committee]] reported that on July 17, 2002, Rice met with CIA director [[George Tenet]] to personally convey the Bush administration's approval of the proposed [[waterboarding]] of alleged Al Qaeda leader [[Abu Zubaydah]]. "Days after Dr Rice gave Mr Tenet her approval, the Justice Department approved the use of waterboarding in a top secret August 1 memo."<ref name = "TheTimes">{{cite news |first=Nico |last=Hines |title=Condoleezza Rice gave nod for 'torture' techniques |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5208701/Condoleezza-Rice-approved-torture-techniques.html |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=April 23, 2009 |access-date=April 23, 2009 |location=London |archive-date=August 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823023040/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5208701/Condoleezza-Rice-approved-torture-techniques.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Waterboarding is considered to be torture by a wide range of authorities, including legal experts,<ref name="HRW open letter WB">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/04/05/open-letter-attorney-general-alberto-gonzales |title=Open Letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales |access-date=April 17, 2009 |date=April 5, 2006 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |archive-date=August 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823023025/https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/04/05/open-letter-attorney-general-alberto-gonzales |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="JuristPittWB_100807">{{cite news|first=Benjamin |last=Davis |title=Endgame on Torture: Time to Call the Bluff |date=October 8, 2007 |work=[[JURIST]] |url=https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2007/10/endgame-on-torture-time-to-call-bluff/ |access-date=December 18, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220210424/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2007/10/endgame-on-torture-time-to-call-bluff.php |archive-date=December 20, 2007 }}</ref><ref name="columbia">{{cite journal |journal=[[Columbia Journal of Transnational Law]] |volume=45 |year=2007 |issue=2 |title=Drop by Drop: Forgetting the History of Water Torture in U.S. Courts |first=Evan |last=Wallach |author-link=Evan Wallach |url=http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=208094762&ETOC=RN |pages=468–506 |issn=0010-1931 |access-date=May 7, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100418113324/http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=208094762&ETOC=RN |archive-date=April 18, 2010 |url-status=live }} A [http://www.pegc.us/archive/Articles/wallach_drop_by_drop_draft_20061016.pdf rough draft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521063746/http://www.pegc.us/archive/Articles/wallach_drop_by_drop_draft_20061016.pdf |date=May 21, 2009 }} is also available.</ref><ref name="National Lawyers Guild">{{cite news| editor = National Lawyers Guild| title = White Paper on the Law of Torture and Holding Accountable Those Who Are Complicit in Approving Torture of Persons in U.S. Custody| publisher = National Lawyers Guild, [[International Association of Democratic Lawyers]]| url = http://www.nlginternational.org/report/NLG_WHITE_PAPER_ON_TORTURE.pdf| access-date = June 26, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090105190332/http://www.nlginternational.org/report/NLG_WHITE_PAPER_ON_TORTURE.pdf| archive-date = January 5, 2009| url-status = live}}</ref> war veterans,<ref name="DN!_WB_110507">{{cite news |title=French Journalist Henri Alleg Describes His Torture Being Waterboarded by French Forces During Algerian War |date=November 5, 2007 |publisher=[[Democracy Now!]] |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2007/11/5/french_journalist_henri_alleg_describes_his |access-date=December 18, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215015232/http://www.democracynow.org/2007/11/5/french_journalist_henri_alleg_describes_his |archive-date=December 15, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NW_WB_110507">{{cite news |first=John |last=McCain |author-link=John McCain |title=Torture's Terrible Toll |date=November 21, 2005 |work=[[Newsweek]] |url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/51200 |access-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502182216/http://www.newsweek.com/id/51200 |archive-date=May 2, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> intelligence officials,<ref name=grey2006p226>{{cite book |first=Stephen |last=Grey |author-link=Stephen Grey |title=Ghost plane: the true story of the CIA torture program |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]] |location=New York City |year=2006 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ghostplanetruest00grey/page/226 226] |isbn=0-312-36023-1 |oclc=70335397 |quote=As one former CIA official, once a senior official for the directorate of operations, told me: 'Of course it was torture. Try it and you'll see.' Another, also a former higher-up in the directorate of operations, told me: 'Yes, it's torture ... ' |url=https://archive.org/details/ghostplanetruest00grey/page/226 }}</ref> military judges,<ref name="CaL_WB_110507">{{cite news|first=Nicole |last=Bell |title=Retired JAGs Send Letter To Leahy: 'Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.' |date=November 2, 2007 |work=[[Crooks and Liars]] |url=http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/retired-jags-send-letter-to-leahy-waterboarding-is-inhumane-it-is-torture-and-it-is-illegal/ |access-date=April 17, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202070251/http://crooksandliars.com/2007/11/03/retired-jags-send-letter-to-leahy-waterboarding-is-inhumane-it-is-torture-and-it-is-illegal |archive-date=February 2, 2009 }}</ref> human rights organizations,<ref name="HRW_WB_110507">{{cite news |title=CIA Whitewashing Torture |date=November 21, 2005 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]] |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2005/11/20/cia-whitewashing-torture |access-date=April 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418040008/http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2005/11/20/cia-whitewashing-torture |archive-date=April 18, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> former U.S. attorney general [[Eric Holder]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/01/61401940/1 |title=Holder: Water-boarding is torture; president can't authorize it |website=[[USA Today]] |date=January 15, 2009 |access-date=July 1, 2009 |first=Mark |last=Memmott |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528111614/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/01/61401940/1 |archive-date=May 28, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref> and many senior politicians, including former U.S. President [[Barack Obama]].<ref name="foxvideo">{{cite news| title = Raw Data: Transcript of Obama's News Conference| publisher = Fox News| date = April 29, 2009| url = http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/29/raw-data-transcript-obamas-news-conference/| access-date = May 7, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100119001637/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/29/raw-data-transcript-obamas-news-conference/| archive-date = January 19, 2010| url-status = dead}}</ref>

In 2003 Rice, Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] and Attorney General [[John Ashcroft]] met with the CIA again and were briefed on the use of waterboarding and other methods including week-long [[sleep deprivation]], forced nudity and the use of stress positions. The Senate report says that the Bush administration officials "reaffirmed that the CIA program was lawful and reflected administration policy".<ref name=TheTimes/>

The Senate report also "suggests Miss Rice played a more significant role than she acknowledged in written testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee submitted in the autumn."<ref name=TheTimes/> At that time, she had acknowledged attending meetings to discuss the CIA's use of torture, but she claimed that she could not recall the details, and she "omitted her direct role in approving the program in her written statement to the committee."<ref name="Rice Gave OK">{{cite news| agency = Associated Press| title = As Bush Adviser, Rice Gave OK to Waterboard| publisher = Fox News| date = April 22, 2009| url = http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/22/bush-adviser-rice-gave-ok-waterboard/| access-date = May 8, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110604160119/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/22/bush-adviser-rice-gave-ok-waterboard/| archive-date = June 4, 2011| url-status = dead}}</ref>

In a conversation with a student at Stanford University in April 2009, Rice stated that she did not authorize the CIA to use the torture. Rice said, "I didn't authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency that they had policy authorization, subject to the Justice Department's clearance. That's what I did."<ref name="kess">{{cite news |last=Kessler |first=Glenn |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/04/30/rice_defends_enhanced_interrog.html |title=Rice Defends Use Of Enhanced Techniques |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 1, 2009 |page=4 |access-date=August 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623211921/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/04/30/rice_defends_enhanced_interrog.html |archive-date=June 23, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> She added, "We were told, nothing that violates our obligations under the [[United Nations Convention Against Torture|Convention Against Torture]]. And so, by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Conventions Against Torture."<ref name="kess"/>

In 2015, citing her role in authorizing the use of so-called "[[enhanced interrogation techniques]]", [[Human Rights Watch]] called for the investigation of Rice "for conspiracy to torture as well as other crimes."<ref name="HRW Roadmap">{{cite journal |url=https://www.hrw.org/node/283564 |title=No More Excuses: A Roadmap to Justice for CIA Torture |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=December 2015 |journal=[[Human Rights Watch]] |access-date=December 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151201203948/https://www.hrw.org/node/283564 |archive-date=December 1, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>