Bush Interrogation Memo Approved Use of Insects

Among the weirder revelations emerging from the newly released CIA memos on harsh interrogations: Bush administration lawyers approved the use of insects. Apparently, one detainee in particular had a phobia about them, so interrogators wanted to slip one into his "cramped confinement box," Time reports. The technique never got used, but Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee had given it the go-ahead.

"An individual placed in a box, even an individual with a fear of insects, would not reasonably feel threatened with severe physical pain or suffering if a caterpillar was placed in the box," concluded Bybee. He did, however, advise interrogators to scrap their idea about telling the prisoner that a sting "would produce death or severe pain." (More insects stories.)