Obama is BOUND BY LAW to prosecute torture.

[Vattel]

28. But the United States qualified its ratification of this convention with "reservations."

Those reservations included:

(1) (a) That with reference to article 1, the United States understands that, in order to constitute torture, an act must be specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering and that mental pain or suffering refers to prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from (1) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering; (2) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality; (3) the threat of imminent death; or (4) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality.

John Yoo, being the asshole he is, argued that the waterboarding done by the CIA did not "specifically intend" to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering and so did not constitute "torture" as defined above. Maybe Obama agrees, maybe not. Be that as it may, Congress should withdraw the reservation quoted above and also amend our criminal statutes against torture (the Torture Act and the War Crimes Act) so that waterboarding is unambiguously criminal under those statutes. But no one cares enough to push for the necessary changes. Obama isn't pushing for them and for all I know no one in Congress is doing so either. Sad and pathetic.