“I think it’s very clear from the reading of these opinions that the OLC’s definition of torture and abuse inaccurately interpreted Article III of the Geneva Conventions, the Convention Against Torture, and U.S. law,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“I find it difficult to understand how the opinions found these interrogation techniques to be legal. For example, waterboarding and slamming detainees head-first into walls, as described in the OLC opinions, clearly fall outside what is legally permissible.

These OLC opinions specifically allowed coercive techniques to be employed repeatedly, in combination, and over long periods of time. In my view, the opinions were flawed. And I believe that now that the American people can see these opinions and the interrogation techniques they authorized, they will agree.”

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