On “Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace,” former President George W. Bush’s political adviser, Karl Rove, defended the Central Intelligence Agency’s use of rectal feeding tubes.

Rove said, “First of all, lets get the rectal feedings out. There are in this report nine references on 14 pages to rectal feeding. Four of those five, it’s discussed as being a result of a hunger strike by the detainee.” Adding, “Waterboarding, confinement, slapping, smashing against walls, these were carefully designed with an idea, with the principals in mind of our statutory obligations and international commitments.”

“The principal tests were do they involve pain or suffering or severe and prolonged mental pain and suffering,” he continued. “In each instance, they were designed so they would not pass those barriers. Take, for example, waterboarding. In waterboarding, unlike World War II where the Japanese attempted to drown people, here, the feet were elevated so there’s little or no chance of fluid getting into the lungs and careful standards set in place so they would help break the resistance of the detainee without placing their life in danger.”

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