Bush-era secret terror memos

WASHINGTON: Obama's administration on Monday lifted the veil further on previous "war on terror" methods, as it ruled out the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique because it amounted to torture.

Hours after Attorney-General Eric Holder repudiated anti-terror methods enacted under former president George W. Bush, the Justice Department released nine internal memos and opinions it said gave legal grounding to the controversial policies.

The documents - the first dating from the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks to the last from the months following the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq - detail how Bush gave himself sole power over terror suspects.