Peter King Dismisses Torture Report As Just People In 'Awkward Positions' [View all]

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Peter King Dismisses Torture Report As Just People In 'Awkward Positions'

By Daniel Strauss
PublishedDecember 10, 2014, 3:09 PM EST


Rep. Peter King (R-NY) suggested that the torture referenced in a Senate report released earlier in the week is actually just referring to "people being made to stand in awkward positions."

"I don’t believe these are torture at all. For instance waterboarding, there were medical personnel present during the whole time. It creates tremendous discomfort there’s no doubt about it. It creates tremendous fear, but the fact is there was no lasting damage to these people and we got information from them, which is very helpful," King said in an interview on New York's WCBS. The interview was flagged by Buzzfeed.

King went on to say that "we’re not talking about anyone being burned or stabbed or cut or anything like that. We’re talking about people being made to stand in awkward positions, have water put into their nose and into their mouth. Nobody suffered any lasting injuries from this."

King's comments come after Senate Democrats released a much-anticipated report detailing the CIA's torture program during the Bush administration. The report said, among other things, that the CIA used some brutal interrogation methods such as rectal hydration and rectal feeding.