Detainees were deprived of sleep for as long as a week, and were sometimes told that they would be killed while in American custody. With the approval of the C.I.A.'s medical staff, some C.I.A. prisoners were subjected to medically unnecessary “rectal feeding” or “rectal hydration” — a technique that the C.I.A.'s chief of interrogations described as a way to exert “total control over the detainee.” C.I.A. medical staff members described the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, as a “series of near drownings.
The CIA is not the entire United States. If they went over the line then that's on them. And they may or may not be punished because it's still a legal grey area, and any court decisions can't be made to retroactively affect them. Agents may be fired, but probably not prosecuted if what they were doing wasn't illegal at the time. International law might, MIGHT hold them to their actions and say following orders isn't an excuse, but that's usually only brought up for things like genocide. Higher-ups might get charged with lying to congress though.
C.I.A. medical staff members described the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, as a “series of near drownings.
This certainly violates numerous UN conventions against torture, basically Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, and a few high ranking individuals in the CIA won't be able to vacation in certain countries, but the US won't extradite anybody.
It's getting to be where you can't kill thousands of Americans without negative consequences anymore!