Torture is illegal.

Rice Channels Nixon: Since the President Authorized Torture, That Makes It Legal

Watch Rice attempt to hide her central role in approving torture.

Rice: Nazis were less of a threat to the U.S. than al Qaeda; SCOTUS wouldn’t let us try detainees.

Of course, the Supreme Court "stayed" the Bush administration's military commissions because they were woefully inadequate. The Court -- three separate times -- required the administration to come up with meaningful judicial review of suspects' detentions. Indeed, last June the court held that military commissions "are not an adequate and effective substitute for habeas corpus" and thus "operates as an unconstitutional suspension of the writ."

Obama Calls It "Torture" on Prime Time

Barack Obama says torture "corrodes the character of a country."

Obama Hits Back Against Bybee’s Defense: ‘Legal Rationales’ For Torture Memos Were ‘A Mistake’

...ABC's Jake Tapper asked President Obama if he believes "that the previous administration sanctioned torture," in light of Obama's recent release of Bush-era torture memos. Obama refrained from saying the Bush administration committed criminal acts, but he said, "I do believe that it [waterboarding] is torture."

President Obama, We Want the Truth About the Bush Administration

Confronting our own misdeeds is a measure of our character. And yes, the whole world is watching.

Spanish Torture Inquiry is Back On

In some countries, they apparently take this sort of thing seriously:

In a ruling in Madrid today, Judge Baltasar Garzón has announced that an inquiry into the Bush administration’s torture policy makers now will proceed into a formal criminal investigation. The ruling came as a jolt following the recommendation of Spanish Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido against proceeding with a criminal inquiry, reported in The Daily Beast on April 16. [...]