Pentagon Releases Memo On Harsh Tactics

Declassified 2003 Memo Says Bush's Wartime Authority Trumps International Ban On Torture

(CBS/AP)  The Pentagon on Tuesday made public a now-defunct legal memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terror suspects, saying that President Bush's wartime authority trumps any international ban on torture.

The Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, outlines legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al Qaeda and Taliban detainees overseas - so long as they did not specifically intend to torture their captors.

Even so, the memo noted, the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by the U.N. treaties against torture.

"Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion," said the memo written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.

The memo also offered a defense in case any interrogator was charged with violating U.S. or international laws.

"Finally, even if the criminal prohibitions outlined above applied, and an interrogation method might violate those prohibitions, necessity or self-defense could provide justifications for any criminal liability," the memo concluded.

The memo was rescinded in December 2003, a mere nine months after Yoo sent it to the Pentagon's top lawyer, William J. Haynes. Though its existence has been known for years, its release Tuesday marked the first time its contents in full have been made public.

Haynes, the Defense Department's longest-serving general counsel, resigned in late February to return to the private sector. He has been hotly criticized for his role in crafting Bush administration policies for detaining and trying suspected terrorists that some argue led to prisoner abuses at the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Yoo's memo became part of a debate among the Pentagon's civilian and military leaders about what interrogation tactics to allow at overseas facilities and whether U.S. troops might face legal problems domestically or in international courts.

Also of concern was whether techniques used by U.S. interrogators might someday be used as justification for harsh treatment of Americans captured by opposing forces.

The Justice Department has opened an internal investigation into whether its top officials improperly authorized or reviewed the CIA's use of waterboarding, which simulates drowning, when interrogating terror suspects. It was unclear whether the Yoo memo, which focuses only on military interrogators, will be part of that inquiry.

The Justice Department repeatedly rebuffed demands for its release, but the ACLU prevailed in its FOIA litigation in getting the memos, reports CBS News Justice Department producer Stephanie Lambidakis.

The document also was turned over to lawmakers.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said its release "represents an accommodation of Congress' oversight interest in the area of wartime interrogations."

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project, said Yoo's legal reasoning puts "literally no limit at all to the kinds of interrogation methods that the president can authorize."

"The whole point of the memo is obviously to nullify every possible legal restraint on the president's wartime authority," Jaffer said. "The memo was meant to allow torture, and that's exactly what it did."

The 81-page legal analysis largely centers on whether interrogators can be held responsible for torture if torture is not the intent of the questioning. And it defines torture as the intended sum of a variety of acts, which could include acid scalding, severe mental pain and suffering, threat of imminent death and physical pain resulting in impaired body functions, organ failure or death.

The "definition of torture must be read as a sum of these component parts," the memo said.

The memo also includes past legal defenses of interrogations that Yoo wrote are not considered torture, such as sleep deprivation, hooding detainees and "frog crouching," which forces prisoners to crouch while standing on the tips of their toes.

"This standard permits some physical contact," the memo said. "Employing a shove or slap as part of an interrogation would not run afoul of this standard."

The memo concludes that foreign enemy combatants held overseas do not have defendants' rights or protections from cruel and unusual punishment that U.S. citizens have under the Constitution. It also says that Congress "cannot interfere with the president's exercise of his authority as commander in chief to control the conduct of operations during a war."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said the memo "reflects the expansive view of executive power that has been the hallmark of this administration." He called for its release four months ago.

"It is no wonder that this memo ... could not withstand scrutiny and had to be withdrawn," said Leahy, D-Vt. "This memo seeks to find ways to avoid legal restrictions and accountability on torture and threatens our country's status as a beacon of human rights around the world."

[noloyalisti]

Finewoven, you think I am deluded that the neo conservatives allowed the twin towers to be attacked.

Are you suggesting that the bush administration actually planned and carried out the attacks? Actually, you may have made a good point there. It is obvious the buildings were demolished. Building 7 collapsed without even being damaged by the other buildings. The evidence was quickly remove before an investigation and people made a LOT of money on stock moves just before and invasion and occupation afterwards. Perfect crime!!!!!!!

[yongamerica]

Ah Heck, too bad these people weren''t beheaded and pictures of their mutilated bodies placed on the internet.

[tucano2]

The despicable little shrub! He is the most dangerous terrorist the USA has ever faced; unfortunately R. Cheney is just about as bad. The ONLY solution is to impeach them both.

[skyk-2009]

hahahahah And Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and John Edwards along with the rest of the Libs that voted helped to give him that authority.....hehehehehehehe


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Posted by hillaryin012 at 03:46 PM : Apr 02, 2008
+ report abuse

This from someone who BOUGHT all the LIES, all 935 of them and does NOT hold the man who told them accountable. You are a very sick person... very sick indeed.

[skyk-2009]

mjlewis, I agree with everything you said except the Plame thing. Plame and Wilson took it upon themselves to go to Africa for no other reason than to discredit the president, it was eank politics that motivated both of them. The truth is she was not covert and both made millions of their project. If there was any truth to there story the courts would not have thrown out their lawsuit.


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Posted by notblue at 03:26 PM : Apr 02, 2008
+ report abuse

This is just PLAINLY a LIE. It can''t be discribed as anything else but a LIE. Ms. Plane DID NOT send Mr. Wilson, she recomended him. The VICE PRESIDENTS office asked the CIA to do the trip. THIS is all a matter of LEGAL Record and since it''s so well know and easy to find out, you sir are a LIAR.

[skyk-2009]

Me thinks: you are deluded.



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Posted by finewoven at 06:35 PM : Apr 02, 2008
+ report abuse

How so? Any "Thing", I refuse to even call Bush a human, who would LIE to his OWN people to start a war that has killed 4,000 of our best and finest is MOST certainly capable of doing something like 9/11. I KNOW Darth is without a doubt. If these two aren''t the most evil men ever in this nations history they sure are in the running.

[mcv57]

The Pentagon and President Bush are turning our military into terrorist. The international community should place the G.W. Bush and Cheney on trial for violating the Geneva Convention (ABOLISION OF TORTURE). Bush and Cheney are the REAL terrorist!

[finewoven]

The terror attacks on the Twin Towers were allowed to happen by the neo con men (read the PNAC document that details what needed to happen).
Posted by noloyalisti at 05:07 PM : Apr 02, 2008

Me thinks: you are deluded.

[noloyalisti]

The terror attacks on the Twin Towers were allowed to happen by the neo con men (read the PNAC document that details what needed to happen). You can''t possibly believe the simplistic US government conspiracy theory that a few terrorist fooled the entire US military and the pentagon security system. Can you?

We can''t blame our own ineptness on a few low budget terrorists, can we? Maybe it was because a few con men made a lot of money on it. That seems to be all we care about anymore.

[finewoven]

The truth is she was not covert and both made millions of their project. If there was any truth to there story the courts would not have thrown out their lawsuit.
Posted by notblue at 03:26 PM : Apr 02, 2008

So therefore, President''s Bush''s public announcement that he will seek the prosecution of the person(s) who outed Ms. Plame was nonsensical. Soon he will seek the clemency of the person who lied to Congress. And Novak is still in denial.

[notblue]

noloyalisti, what "created the extremists" before Bush and Iraq? Both twin towers attacks happened before Iraq, not counting the countless bombings for 30 years prior to Bush. Just curious.

[notblue]

mjlewis, I agree with everything you said except the Plame thing. Plame and Wilson took it upon themselves to go to Africa for no other reason than to discredit the president, it was eank politics that motivated both of them. The truth is she was not covert and both made millions of their project. If there was any truth to there story the courts would not have thrown out their lawsuit.

[noloyalisti]

It turns out we are the terrorists and a rogue state. It think the fascist government has been listening to the religious freaks like Dobbs and Falwell for too long. They actually think that torture is not torture and it certainly is not torture if you do it to Islamic extremists that we created by GOP policies.

[skyk-2009]

According to this Memo all a President has to do was have the CIA blow something up, claim it was done by someone else and ignore the laws of this nation. It''s got to be the most rediculous position I''ve ever heard in my life. Where could they get such garbage?? Even in WW II and that was a WHOLE lot worse than this, FDR NEVER assumed these powers NOR did he authorize torture. We have a leader and a Government that is beyond reason.

[getcentered]

"This memo seeks to find ways to avoid legal restrictions and accountability on torture and threatens our country''s status as a beacon of human rights around the world."

It sure does.......sad day for Americans.....

[getcentered]

"It is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

-Hermann Wilhelm Gvring

[prinzowhales]

neenga--When I was in the US Army in Europe, people would come back from weekend USO tours of Paris pretending to knowledge of all things French...travel has hardly been broadening in your case...I''ve watched American travellers in foreign climes... how they clump together and only associate with those who speak English...but, do you hear what they say when they are not talking to you?

[finewoven]

mjlewis6,

And also Katrina with FEMA''s lack of management, and the wiretaps on Americans without warrants or oversight.

[finewoven]

finewoven - I hope history repeats itself!
Posted by hotpaulie at 01:03 PM : Apr 02, 2008

Although, the difference being that if we have not learned from history we are doomed to repeat it. Further to the point, one man is not at fault in our present environment--it is systemic in our party politics. If the Republicans can come up with a cogent reform process that is above board, which is hard to tell with all the secrets and lies, then maybe there is merit to the cause.

[hotpaulie]

finewoven - I hope history repeats itself!