“President George Bush cited the London July 7 [2005] bombings in an interview broadcast last night [February 14, 2008] to justify his support for waterboarding, an interrogation technique widely regarded as torture. In an interview with the BBC he said information obtained from alleged terrorists helped save lives, and the families of the July 7 victims would understand that. Bush said waterboarding, which simulates drowning, was not torture and is threatening to veto a congressional bill that would ban it. …He told the BBC’s Matt Frei: ‘To the critics, I ask them this: when we, within the law, interrogate and get information that protects ourselves and possibly others in other nations to prevent attacks, which attack would they have hoped that we wouldn’t have prevented? And so, the United States will act within the law. We’ll make sure professionals have the tools necessary to do their job within the law.’ ”
– Ewen MacAskill, “Bush References London Attacks to Defend Waterboarding,” The Guardian, Feb. 15, 2008