Hello, I’m Charlotte Bellis, and you’re watching Newsy.com.

Memos detailing harsh CIA interrogation tactics authorized during the U.S. Bush administration have the international community weighing in.

Here’s France 24 and MSNBC with more on the tactics outlined in the CIA memos:

“Water boarding, although it’s not a surprise anymore, it was indeed authorized and widely encouraged. Also that some detainees doused in cold water and left in cold air and just freezing there. They were put in little cells with insects just to scare them. It was ok to hit and slap them.” (France 24)

“The sheer dull mechanics of this is almost to a lunatic degree. They get so specific as to try to mislead themselves away from the obvious truth.... Our federal law says we aren’t allowed to inflict severe mental pain or suffering… But that’s precisely what they were out to do.” -Howard Fineman (MSNBC)

President Obama assured CIA officials who carried out the tactics they would not be prosecuted under his administration… a decision some question:

The BBC brings us Amnesty International’s stance: "These are criminal acts. Torture is illegal under American law, it's illegal under international law. America has an international obligation to prosecute the individuals who carry out these kind of acts." (BBC)

Talking Points Memo writes, “What the Obama administration has done is… as effective as trial. …It is not released 12 years after the administration has ended, but just 12 weeks. Now while the wounds are still fresh, tender, raw, visible. Released while it still hurts, so sense memory cannot kick in and say, ‘It wasn't that bad.’” (Talking Points Memo)


FOX News talked with former CIA director Michael Hayden, who says the public release of the memos will compromise the CIA’s mission:

“We’re asked to do things no one else is asked to do, allowed to do. What this has done is put a very powerful element of doubt about when they’re asked to do difficult things. Legal opinions on which actions are based are subject to political change and political wind. That’s a very troubling development.” -Frmr. CIA Director Michael Hayden (FOX News)

Should the Obama administration have made the Bush administration’s interrogation tactics public? What do you think about the decision not to prosecute CIA officials involved?