Across the World: United States

Govt 'endorsed abuse'

The Bush administration explicitly endorsed the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods against Al-Qaida suspects in a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

The previously undisclosed classified memos were requested by then CIA Director George Tenet more than a year after the start of the secret interrogations, the newspaper reported, citing administration and intelligence officials familiar with the documents.