That's what the memos say. That's what the CIA says. Do you have evidence we did it to others? I have yet to see anything suggesting that.
Waterboarding was shown to all the top leaders in Congress prior to use. Hillary saw it. Pelosi saw it. Dozens of others all toured the facility prior to it being done, and approved.
Now if you have evidence that suggests other forms of torture were official sanctioned by our government, that would be a legitimate concern to me, and I'd want to know more about what was done by whom.
You just did, but I'm pretty thick skinned. Torture is a loose term. People tend to define it in many ways. I remember a state prison inmate trying to claim that because they couldn't get new clothes (theirs had cuts and holes in them) and because the food was poor (and apparently room service was poor) that they were being tortured!
For me, I define torture differently than most people do. To me, torture is determined by the extent of real physical harm, and to the purpose.
For example, when I was a young boy, my father spanked me. How much real physical harm was there? Zero. What was the purpose? To teach me not to do wrong things (which he was wildly successful at using this method). This is not torture.
Yet I've met people who's fathers hit them. How much physical harm was there? Tons. bruises, stitches, you name it. What was the purpose? To fulfill the evil self-gratifying feeling of harming another person.
That is what the event you pointed to above was about. That to me, was torture, and a horrible breach of acceptable action.
But waterboarding as administered by the CIA, did no physical harm. It simply caused a choke reflex, and invoked a natural fear of drowning. It's purpose was to do exactly what it did, gain information that saved lives and prevent terrorist acts. That's not torture to me, and is perfectly acceptable, provided a better solution is not found.
I don't see waterboarding as any worse than all the other interrogation techniques used. Like stripping someone naked, dousing them with water, and putting them in a tiny cubical cell at 40 degrees. Should we ban that? And after we ban all the ways in which we can interrogate someone, who are you going to blame when more Americans die in a terrorist attack?
