Yes It Is!

NY Times:

Holder Tells Senators Waterboarding Is Torture

WASHINGTON — Pledging to run an independent Justice Department free of political taint, Eric H. Holder Jr. said on Thursday that he believes unequivocally that “waterboarding” is torture, and that it must not be practiced by the United States regardless of the circumstances.

Addressing the subject of torture at the military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Mr. Holder told Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee chairman, “Waterboarding is torture.” It was so defined under the Spanish Inquisition and when used by the Japanese in World War II, he said, and it remains so today.

President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to close the prison, which Mr. Holder said he agreed with. “There are possibly many other people who are not going to be able to be tried but who nevertheless are dangerous to this country,” he said. “We’re going to have to try to figure out what to do with them.”

Asked whether a president might have the power to immunize people against criminal charges if they employ waterboarding, which creates a drowning-like sensation, to obtain intelligence to use against terrorists, Mr. Holder answered unambiguously: “Mr. Chairman, no one is above the law”