So why is the CIA allowed to use it?
President Bush excluded the CIA from the restrictions imposed on the military. He did so in an executive order in July 2007, which sought to define the American commitment to the Geneva Conventions' Common Article 3 prohibition on cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment and torture.
The order declared that a CIA "programme of detention and interrogation" complied with the Geneva Conventions.
The order listed interrogation methods and practices that are not allowed. These range all the way from murder and rape to acts of humiliation.
The banned methods did not, however, include the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. In a separate memorandum, President Bush drew up a list of allowed methods, but these have not been made public.
Is water-boarding effective?
According to ex-CIA officer John Kiriakou, al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah "broke" within half a minute. Abu Zubaydah said later that he had made things up to satisfy his interrogators.
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk