Karl Rove Says He's 'Proud' US Used Waterboarding

(March 12) -- Karl Rove, former senior political adviser to President George W. Bush, says he is "proud" the U.S. used waterboarding to gain information from terror suspects.

"I'm proud that we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists," he said in a BBC interview, adding that he did not consider waterboarding to be torture.

The practice, considered by many to violate the terms of the Geneva Convention on the conduct of war, was sanctioned in a series of memos by White House lawyers in 2002. It involves pouring water into a captive's breathing passages, simulating a sensation of drowning.

President Barack Obama banned the practice in January 2009 and released documents that revealed the use of other techniques under Bush, including systematic sleep deprivation.

Karl Rove takes part in a panel discussion in October 2008.

Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Though many view waterboarding as torture, Karl Rove told the BBC that he was "proud" that the United States used the interrogation technique on suspected terrorists.

Rove said waterboarding "gave us valuable information that allowed us to foil plots such as flying airplanes into Heathrow and into London, bringing down aircraft over the Pacific, flying an airplane into the tallest building in Los Angeles and other plots."

"Yes, I'm proud that we kept the world safer than it was, by the use of these techniques," he said in an interview from New York. "They're appropriate, they're in conformity with our international requirements and with U.S. law."

Asked if waterboarding was torture, he replied, "No, it's not."

He added: "People need to read the memos that outline what was permissible and not permissible before they make a judgment about these things.

"Every one of the people who were waterboarded had a doctor who had to ascertain that there had been no longstanding physical or mental damage to the individual."

Rove also said suspects were told they would not drown.

The Central Intelligence Agency publicly admitted using waterboarding for the first time in 2008, when Director Michael Hayden told Congress it had been applied to three al-Qaida suspects. These included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, charged with masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Rove's interview was connected with the recent publication of his memoir, "Courage and Conscience," in which he says Bush will be judged favorably by history and he regrets he didn't do more to defend Bush against claims that he lied about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.