White House Disavows Interrogation Memo

[pinniped]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=1&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_prisoner_abuse

White House Disavows Interrogation Memo

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department (news - web sites) on Tuesday disavowed a memo that appeared to justify the use of torture in the war on terror and argued that the president's wartime powers superseded anti-torture laws and treaties.

The 50-page memo issued to the White House on Aug. 1, 2002, will be replaced because it contained overbroad and irrelevant advice, senior Justice Department officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The memo will be replaced with a new document narrowly addressing the question of proper interrogation techniques for al-Qaida and Taliban detainees, the officials said, citing department policy for requesting anonymity on their comments.

The White House, meanwhile, stung by suggestions the administration had condoned torture, released hundreds of pages of documents concerning the treatment of prisoners captured in the war against terror.
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More:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=1&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_prisoner_abuse

Hey we officially "disavoweled" it end of story.

[DrWeird]

1. Isn't this the one with Dick Cheney's signature on it?

That's what I heard on CNN this morning.

It's going to be pretty hard to disavow that.

[Edmond Dantes]

12. Actually, this is the DOJ/OLC memo by Jay Bybee

Bybee is an intellectual lightweight who never should have been appointed Asst. Attorney General for OLC in the first instance. He probably got the appointment through the equally brainless Sen. Hatch.

It is not unheard of for OLC to "overrule" an earlier opinion in the same way that a court sometimes overrules itself (usually many years after the initial opinion). That OLC's "overruling" has occurred within a two-year window, and in the heat of controversy, indicates that they are well aware that Bybee made a terrible mistake that requires immediate correcting. (Now if only we can correct the mistake of his having been appointed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.)

As I ponder this further ...

This move may be in part motivated by a desire to shift attention away from OLC. If ALL OLC memoranda on controversial topics produced during Bush I and Bush II were subject to review by legal experts, we would find that quite a few them require overruling. (I know because I once worked in that corrupt snakepit.) The neocons want this issue to "go away" before people start asking too many questions about what OLC does and how it operates.

[BootinUp]

2. Should you be caught committing torture we disavow all knowledge

of your actions.

Sounds about right.

[Journeyman]

9. . . . this memo will self-destruct in 60 seconds.

Thank you, Mr. Phelps. . .

[sam sarrha]

3. Isn't that sorta like rewriting History ..or something like that ?????

:wtf: :argh: :spank:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Disavow? "Will be replaced?" WTF?

:wtf:
Does replacing it mean you never said those things or thought those things?

[Gothmog]

5. This is incredible

Can you say CYA.

[struggle4progress]

6. Careening down the hill and back-pedalling hard.

:)

[enough]

7. We didn't just disavow it,

we also REPLACED it. That should make it go away.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. I'm thinking there's got to be signed orders and statements from Bush and

or Cheney. They are trying to kill the story as fast as they can.

[Solly Mack]

10. The end statement:

"They also said there were additional techniques approved for use in the war on terrorism that would remain classified so that terror operatives would not know every possible method the United States could use. "

On Edit: The above quote is from the DOJ mouth piece...it's NOT mine. Reading the article would have shown that.

On Edit cont.: <facetious alert>



IOW, the US wants to keep their signature torture methods hush hush..sort of a trade secret to be kept from their competitors in the torture trade. On Edit cont: added eyeroll for clarity. :eyes:

Good thing they "disavowed" and plan to repudiate....I mean, really, people could have been tortured, even died. </sarcasm> </facetious)

you know, sarcasm, much like jokes, loses that litte somethng in the translation..

[Eloriel]

13. Oh, like torture is some sort of deterrent to terrorism? I think NOT.

Hell, the death penalty isn't even a deterrent to capital crimes.

Just like would-be murderers, terrorists don't intend to get caught. They think they're smarter than that. Why worry about torture if you aren't going to get caught?

Sheesh. It's pure CYA, stop with the other lies and funny business already.

[Solly Mack]

15. Exactly

"It's pure CYA"


and no doubt once they "replace" the original memo pages with the new, improved... and less incriminating portions......they can attempt to rewrite history and claim the memo never contained a rationale for torture.

On Edit: I was being facetious in my first post.

[MGKrebs]

14. Hmmm. But the guys they use those methods on know what the methods are.

Have any of those prisoners ever been released? If so, the cats out of the bag, so to speak, isn't it? I mean, unless they kill all of the prisoners they use these methods on, then the Iraqis know already, but the US government has to protect US from knowing!

It's just too bizarre! I've given up trying to write my book...this stuff is better!

[Solly Mack]

16. I was being facetious

It would seem I needed a tag line explaining that


I understand that there are no trade secret torture methods....but then I was applying the logic used by the DOJ mouth piece.

And you're correct...it is all too bizarre

[Miss Authoritiva]

11. Actually, "disavow" is a legal term.

"TO DISAVOW. To deny the authority by which an agent pretends to have acted as when he has exceeded the bounds of his authority."

It is the Justice Department, not the White House, that is disavowing the memo, and this probably will have ramifications for those facing court-martial in the prison abuse scandals.

"The Justice Department (news - web sites), meanwhile, disavowed a memo written in 2002 that appeared to justify the use of torture in the war on terror. The memo also argued that the president's wartime powers superseded anti-torture laws and treaties."

[FascistAdder]

17. Wartime Powers?

Hi everyone, I'm new here but I had to respond to this post. Does anyone here know what the current situation is regarding Bushco's level of power regarding this war. It seems to me that he declared the war ended months ago? As for the war on terror what are the rules for this thing regarding unnamed non-state parties? So far as I can tell, although I haven't yet looked at what is available about the war declaration, the man has not declared an official war on these people? For those of you who are more informed than I, maybe you can help me here. The implications of such a situation would indicate that there is some level of complicity on the part of the Dem's too.
By the way, before you answer, I am loyal to no party, and my family has worked under and known about appointees and leaders on both sides of the aisle that are scum. My major difference of opinion on party is that the Dem's at least pretend to act as though they have any shame while the republicans are just downright arrogant fascists.

[Robbien]

18. Why is the WH releasing these documents on a Tuesday?

Are they trying to overload today with all the outrageous news so that no one issue gets any attention?

It is hard to keep them straight. We have the revised terror report, this memo, the document release, Ashcroft's lying under oath, Clinton's book, Moore's film, the bombing of Fallujah, the beheadings, Bush/Cheney contradicting 911 commission statement of no link, etc.

[truthisfreedom]

22. hahaha. sounds like the perfect storm.

[Edmond Dantes]

19. This is a story "in progress" ...

The headline has already changed and I believe the text has too .....

[pinniped]

21. A dynamic story...

Bush Claimed Right to Waive Torture Laws

[gratuitous]

20. What, the memos just wrote themselves?

What is this, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets? Memos don't write themselves. Someone has to ask the question for low-level grunt attorneys to research and write something. This didn't just "happen."

[Edmond Dantes]

24. Nope. Memo was requested by White House Counsel...

Here's the opening paragraph of the 8/1/02 "Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales, Counsel to the President" with my bracketed comments:

"You have asked for our Office’s views regarding the standards of conduct under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment as implemented by Sections 2340-2340A of Title 18 of the U.S. Code <i.e., U.S. Criminal Code>. As we understand it, this question has arisen in the context of the conduct of interrogations outside of the United States <i.e., not limited to Guantanamo Bay>. We conclude below that Section 2340A proscribes acts inflicting, and that are specifically intended to inflict, severe pain or suffering, whether mental or physical. Those acts must be of an extreme nature to rise to the level of torture within the meaning of Section 2340A and the Convention. We further conclude that certain acts may be cruel, inhuman or degrading, but still not produce pain and suffering of the requisite intensity to fall within Section 2340A’s proscription against torture. We conclude by examining possible defenses that would negate any claim that certain interrogation methods violate the statute."

[rexcat]

23. This Administration is incredible...

When a policy backfires on them they disavow it and pretend that it was someone else who made up the policy. Where is the accountability with Bush* and his minions? What a f--king bunch of liars.