Checking Ron Paul and Barack Obama on torture

On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, in South Carolina at the Republican candidates’ debate, the subject was foreign policy.

When the subject of waterboarding detainees came up, both Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and former Godfather’s Pizza executive Herman Cain said they favored allowing interrogators to use the practice of simulating drowning to elicit information from a detainee. Waterboarding was permitted under the George W. Bush administration, but the policy was rescinded soon after President Barack Obama took office.

Then moderator Major Garrett asked Paul for his opinion.

Paul responded that “torture is illegal by our laws. It’s illegal by international laws.”

Our reporting found multiple provisions that ban torture, both in U.S. and international law. We rated Paul’s statement True.

In a related promise update, we gave President Barack Obama a Promise Kept for his campaign vow to “end the use torture without exception.”