Ashcroft refuses to provide Congress memos on use of torture

Posted on Tue, Jun. 08, 2004
Ashcroft refuses to provide Congress memos on use of torture
By Shannon McCaffrey
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft flatly refused requests from Congressional Democrats on Tuesday to turn over memos that reportedly justified the use of torture in some instances against terrorists.

"This administration rejects torture," Ashcroft told lawmakers.

Ashcroft faced heated questions from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee over whether the Bush administration has sanctioned torture in its war on terror.

He said Tuesday that President Bush never violated international treaties or U.S. law governing the treatment of prisoners but refused to provide the memos written to the CIA and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"No, I will not," Ashcroft responded when Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., asked him to provide the documents. Ashcroft explained that the Justice Department's legal guidance to the executive branch and the president must remain confidential.

He also said that Bush has not given blanket immunity to any U.S. agent interrogating al-Qaida captives.

Democrats assailed Ashcroft with a torrent of questions, saying a 2002 Justice Department memo, which carved out instances in which torture might be permissible, paved the way for the now notorious abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Kennedy waved a photo of a dog threatening an Iraqi prisoner as he admonished Ashcroft.

"Because we know when we have these kind of orders what happens," Kennedy said. "We get the stress tests. We get the use of dogs. We get the forced nakedness that we've seen and we get the hooding. That is what directly results when you have that kind of memoranda out there."

Ashcroft said that far from condoning the activities at Abu Ghraib the Justice Department is instead investigating civilians involved for possible criminal violations.

"Let me completely reject the notion that anything this president has done or the Justice Department has done has directly resulted in the kinds of atrocities which were cited," he said.

But Ashcroft's refusal to hand over the torture policy documents, the contents of which have already leaked out in several media outlets, angered Democrats.

"You are not allowed under the Constitution to not answer our questions," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. "You all better come up with a good rationale because otherwise it's contempt of Congress."

Asked by Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch. R-Utah, whether the memos were classified, Ashcroft conferred for a long moment with an aide sitting behind him.

"Some of these memos may be classified in some ways for some purposes," he began.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., interrupted him.

"Mr. Attorney General, with all due respect that is a complete evasion," Durbin said. Durbin said the president either had to invoke executive privilege or Ashcroft had to cite a statutory provision allowing him to withhold the memos.

Ashcroft steadfastly refused to do either Tuesday.

"I am refusing to disclose these memos because I believe it is essential to the operation of the executive branch that the president have the opportunity to get information from his attorney general that is confidential," he said.

Republicans on the committee largely ignored the torture issue.

The 2002 Justice Department memo, which was reported in Tuesday's Washington Post, was crafted to provide the CIA with guidance in permissible interrogation techniques for terrorist captives. It said inflicting mental and physical pain might be justified in order to prevent additional attacks on the United States by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

The Bush administration contends that members of al-Qaida and the Taliban are not protected by the Geneva Convention prohibiting torture, but insists they have been treated humanely nonetheless.

Another memo prepared by Defense Department lawyers in March 2003 - the same month the United States began the military invasion in Iraq - relied on similar legal reasoning. It said national security trumped federal anti-torture laws and international treaties. The Wall Street Journal reported on that memo Monday.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee suggest that the Bush administration is secretly reinterpreting U.S. law and the Geneva Convention.

A tight-lipped Ashcroft refused to discuss the memo or even confirm its existence. He said to reveal information about the U.S. interrogation techniques could help members of al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

Biden persisted.

"If such a memo existed, do you believe that is good law? Do you think that torture might be justified?" he asked.

"I condemn torture," Ashcroft responded. "I don't think it's productive, let alone justified."