The law also forbids causing "severe mental pain or suffering" through "the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering." That provision seems to cover threatening to kill a detainee's children or leading him to believe that his mother, wife and/or daughter would be raped in front of him, as CIA interrogators allegedly did.
Another interrogator admitted to repeatedly pressing a prisoner's carotid artery until he was on the verge of unconsciousness. This interrogator "noted that he has ... years of experience debriefing and interviewing people and until recently had never been instructed how to conduct interrogations."
When he finally did receive instructions, he was told that waterboarding, slapping, wall slamming, painful "stress positions," sleep deprivation for up to 11 days and confinement in a small dark box (with or without insects) were perfectly legal. According to the CIA's general counsel, these methods were not only cleared by top Bush administration officials, but described to senior members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, none of whom objected.
In this permissive environment, it's not surprising that interrogators thought they had a green light to get creative with pressure points, power drills, stiff brushes, "hard takedowns," smoke, dousing and death threats.
"Ten years from now, we're going to be sorry we're doing this," one CIA officer told the inspector general's office, but "it has to be done." That is the attitude of conservatives who believe in the rule of law so strongly that they thought a president who lied about oral sex deserved impeachment for committing perjury yet think a president who allowed torture deserves praise for doing what was necessary.