Waterboarding were dismissed in a memo from Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis who found that Yoo showed "poor judgment" but did not violate ethical standards. Commentators have noted that the memos omitted key relevant precedents, including a Texas precedent under then-Governor George W. Bush when the state convicted and sentenced to prison for 10 years a county sheriff for waterboarding a criminal suspect. Bush did not issue a pardon for the sheriff. Former George W. Bush administration officials Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft have stated since leaving office that they do not consider waterboarding to be torture. At least one
Dick Cheney Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney (; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th Vice President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He has been cited as the most powerful Vice President in American history. At the same time he has been among the least favored politicians in the history of the United States: his approval rating when leaving office was only 13%. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Cheney was primarily raised in Sumner, Nebraska, and Casper, Wyoming. He attended Yale and then the University of Wyoming, at the latter of which