Condoleezza Rice Defends Bush Torture Policy Again, To Grade School Student

May 4, 2009 9:37 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has been questioned again by a student about waterboarding and she again defended the past administration's controversial interrogation technique.

While Rice was visiting the Jewish Primary Day School in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, fourth grader Misha Lerner asked for her comment on the Obama administration's criticism of certain interrogation techniques authorized by former president George W. Bush to extract information from detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Abcnews.com quoted Rice as saying, "Let me just say that President Bush was very clear that he wanted to do everything he could to protect the country. After September 11, we wanted to protect the country. But he was also very clear that we would do nothing, nothing, that was against the law or against our obligations internationally. So the president was only willing to authorize policies that were legal in order to protect the country."

Last week, a Stanford University student asked Rice if she authorized waterboarding, where a person being interrogated is splashed with water on the face to simulate drowning. She denied authorizing the torture technique.

"I didn't authorize anything. I conveyed the authorization of the administration to the agency. That they had policy authorization subject to the Justice Department's clearance. That's what I did," Rice said, according to Abcnews.com.