On December 11, 2008, US Senators Carl Levin (D-MI) and John McCain (R-AZ) released the executive summary [PDF] of a Senate Armed Forces Committee report that blamed senior US officials for the use of abusive interrogation techniques against detainees held in Guantanamo Bay and other US military prisons. The report criticized senior officials in the Bush administration who authorized the use of torture, which the committee believed "strengthened the hand of our enemies" and "compromised our moral authority." The committee report cited Bush administration memos that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding. Human rights groups have called on the Obama administration to stop shielding Bush administration officials from prosecution, and to launch criminal investigations into alleged detainee abuse.

Learn more about the Bush administration and torture from the JURIST news archive, and read comprehensive coverage on Guantanamo Bay in Features.

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