Rice dismisses torture claims

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"If Georgie says it.s legal, it is legal. Remember, he spoke with God. W said God sounded a lot like Dick Cheney, and Bushie was slightly drunk, but..."

Water boarding was approved by the US justice department and began in 2002

Condoleezza Rice, the former US secetary of State, has rejected claims she approved the use of torture when she was US national security adviser.

Rice, who held the positions under the administration of George Bush, the former US president, triggered controversy recently when she said at Stanford University that if torture techniques including waterboarding were authorised by Bush, then they were not illegal.

Asked by Al Jazeera whether she stood by her remarks, Rice said: "Let me be very clear: The president [George Bush] said he would not authorise anything that was illegal.

"It was not legal because he authorised it; it was because he said he would do nothing illegal and the justice department and the attorney general said that it was legal."

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