Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
April 18, 2008 By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is investigating whether agency lawyers improperly advised the military it could use harsh interrogation methods and concluded that President Bush's wartime authority could not be limited by domestic law or international bans on torture.
The findings outlined in a March 2003 memo have been included in an ongoing internal review about the CIA's use of waterboarding, which simulates drowning, and whether top Justice officials crossed a line in authorizing it.
The department's Office of Professional Responsibility, which is handling the investigation, generally does not publicly discuss what matters are under review. The office called Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., late Wednesday night to confirm the expanded inquiry into the 2003 memo, according to his spokeswoman, Alex Swartsel.
In a statement Thursday, Whitehouse said that the investigation will show how the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel reached its conclusions in writing the memo. He said it will "help us discover what went wrong and how to put it right."
"The abject failure of legal scholarship in the Office of Legal Counsel's analysis of torture suggests that what mattered was not that the reasoning was sound, or that the research was comprehensive, but that it delivered what the Bush administration wanted," Whitehouse said.
At issue is a now-defunct Justice Department memo that outlined legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas. The March 14, 2003, memo said the techniques could be used so long as interrogators did not specifically intend to torture their captives.
The memo, written by then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, said the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by United Nations treaties against torture. It also offered a defense in case any interrogator was charged with violating U.S. or international laws.
The memo was rescinded in December 2003, nine months after Yoo sent it to the Pentagon's top lawyer and to Alberto Gonzales, who was then White House counsel.
Yoo, now a professor at University of California-Berkeley Law School, declined comment Thursday.
Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse also declined to comment.
April 18, 2008 By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department is investigating whether agency lawyers improperly advised the military it could use harsh interrogation methods and concluded that President Bush's wartime authority could not be limited by domestic law or international bans on torture.
The findings outlined in a March 2003 memo have been included in an ongoing internal review about the CIA's use of waterboarding, which simulates drowning, and whether top Justice officials crossed a line in authorizing it.
The department's Office of Professional Responsibility, which is handling the investigation, generally does not publicly discuss what matters are under review. The office called Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., late Wednesday night to confirm the expanded inquiry into the 2003 memo, according to his spokeswoman, Alex Swartsel.
In a statement Thursday, Whitehouse said that the investigation will show how the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel reached its conclusions in writing the memo. He said it will "help us discover what went wrong and how to put it right."
"The abject failure of legal scholarship in the Office of Legal Counsel's analysis of torture suggests that what mattered was not that the reasoning was sound, or that the research was comprehensive, but that it delivered what the Bush administration wanted," Whitehouse said.
At issue is a now-defunct Justice Department memo that outlined legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas. The March 14, 2003, memo said the techniques could be used so long as interrogators did not specifically intend to torture their captives.
The memo, written by then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, said the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by United Nations treaties against torture. It also offered a defense in case any interrogator was charged with violating U.S. or international laws.
The memo was rescinded in December 2003, nine months after Yoo sent it to the Pentagon's top lawyer and to Alberto Gonzales, who was then White House counsel.
Yoo, now a professor at University of California-Berkeley Law School, declined comment Thursday.
Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse also declined to comment.