A Press Release by NRCAT

Washington, D.C. - The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), a campaign of over 285 religious organizations working together to abolish U.S.-sponsored torture, responded today to the admission made by Judge Jay Bybee, who formerly headed the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), that the CIA used torture techniques beyond even those approved by the OLC.

Types of torture approved by the OLC under then Assistant Attorney General Bybee include waterboarding, walling, stress positions, and sleep deprivation.  During his testimony on May 26 before the House Judiciary Committee, Judge Bybee confirmed that the CIA went beyond even 
those approved types of torture to force detainees to defecate on themselves, to hold detainees in extended isolation, to hang detainees from ceiling hooks, and to administer daily beatings of detainees.

Acting U.S. Attorney John Durham has been tasked by Attorney General Holder with investigating those interrogations that went beyond the guidelines propagated by the OLC.  Judge Bybee's admission confirms that CIA interrogators used types of torture that were not allowed by the OLC guidelines.

"The fact that the CIA used forms of torture not allowed by even the flawed OLC memos demonstrates the need for U.S. Attorney Durham to thoroughly investigate the CIA's use of torture," said NRCAT Executive Director, Rev. Richard Killmer.

"It is very important to note that the use of torture was not the result of a few bad apples, whether at the CIA or at the OLC.  Rather, the use of torture was condoned at the highest levels of the Bush White House. President Bush is unrepentant about having authorized the use of torture, recently telling a crowd in Grand Rapids that he would 'do it again' about the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.  Also Judge Bybee stated that he was concerned about close communication between John Yoo and the White House.  If Attorney General Holder does not 
follow his investigation to the highest levels of the U.S. government then the result will be a tragic scapegoating instead of true justice."

To read full transcripts of testimony by Judge Jay Bybee, click here.