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White House - AP
Bush Claimed Right to Waive Torture Laws
26 minutes ago
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON -
President Bush (news
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web sites) claimed the right to waive anti-torture laws and treaties
covering prisoners of war after the invasion of Afghanistan (news
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web sites), and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized guards
to strip detainees and threaten them with dogs, according to documents
released Tuesday.
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The documents were handed out at the White House in an effort to blunt
allegations that the administration had authorized torture against al-Qaida
prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq (news
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web sites). "I have never ordered torture," Bush said. "I will never
order torture. The values of this country are such that torture is not a
part of our soul and our being." The memos were meant to deal with an
election-year headache that followed revelations about abuses at Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq, but the documents also brought to light some
practices that the administration decided had gone too far. Amnesty
International revived its call for the appointment of a special counsel
to investigate any torture and ill-treatment of prisoners in U.S.
custody. The Justice Department (news
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web sites) 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president's wartime powers superseded anti-torture laws and treaties.
That 50-page document, dated Aug. 1, 2002, will be replaced, Justice
Department officials said. White House counsel Alberto Gonzales said
that some legal memos contained "unnecessary and overbroad discussions"
that could be "subject to misinterpretation." But he added, "The
analysis underpinning the president's decisions stand and are not being
reviewed." A new memo will instead narrowly address the question of
proper interrogation techniques for al-Qaida and Taliban detainees, the
Justice Department said. Bush had outlined his own views in a Feb. 7.
2002, document regarding treatment of al-Qaida detainees from
Afghanistan. He said the war against terrorism had ushered in a "new
paradigm" and that terrorist attacks required "new thinking in the law
of war." Still, he said prisoners must be treated humanely and in
accordance with the Geneva Conventions. "I accept the legal conclusion
of the attorney general and the Department of Justice (news
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web sites) that I have the authority under the Constitution to
suspend Geneva as between the United States and Afghanistan, but I
decline to exercise that authority at this time," the president said in
the memo, entitled "Humane Treatment of al-Qaida and Taliban Detainees."
Explaining Bush's memo, Gonzales said the United States "is fighting "an
enemy that does not fight, attack or plan according to accepted laws of
war — in particular the Geneva Conventions." In a separate Pentagon (news
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web sites) memo, dated Nov. 27, 2002, the Defense Department's chief
lawyer, William J. Haynes II, recommended that Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld approve the use of 14 interrogation techniques on detainees at
Guantanamo Bay, such as yelling at a prisoner during questioning and
using "stress positions," like standing, for up to four hours. Haynes
also recommended approval of one technique among harsher methods
requested by U.S. military authorities at Guantanamo: use of "mild,
non-injurious physical contact such as grabbing, poking in the chest
with the finger and light pushing." Among the techniques that Rumsfeld
approved on Dec. 2, 2002, in addition to the grabbing, the yelling and
the stress positions: _ Use of 20-hour interrogations. _ Removal of all
comfort items, including religious items. _ Removal of clothing. _ Using
detainees' "individual phobias such as fear of dogs to induce stress."
Rumsfeld scribbled a note on Haynes' memo that said, "However, I stand
for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours." In a Jan. 15,
2003, note, Rumsfeld rescinded his approval of Haynes' recommendations
and said a review would be conducted to consider legal, policy and
operational issues relating to interrogations of detainees held by the
U.S. military in the war on terrorism. Rumsfeld's decision was prompted
at least in part by objections raised by some military lawyers who felt
that the techniques might go too far, officials said earlier this year.
The review was completed in April 2003, and on that basis Rumsfeld
reissued his guidance on April 16, 2003. He approved 24 interrogation
techniques, to be used in a manner consistent with the Geneva
Conventions, but said that any use of four of those methods would have
to be approved by him in advance: the use of rewards or removal of
privileges; attacking or insulting the ego of a detainee; alternating
the use of friendly and harsh interrogators, and isolation. The April
2003 review said that removing a detainees' clothing would raise legal
issues because it could be construed as degrading, which is against the
international convention on torture. The removal of clothing, approved
by Rumsfeld for use at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002, was not among the
authorized techniques in his revised guidelines issued in April 2003. At
the Justice Department, senior officials said that the 50-page memo
issued to the White House on Aug. 1, 2002, would be repudiated and
replaced. The memo, signed by former Assistant Attorney General Jay
Bybee, included lengthy sections that appeared to justify use of torture
in the war on terrorism and it contended that U.S. personnel could be
immune from prosecution for torture. The memo also argued that the
president's powers as commander in chief allow him to override U.S. laws
and international treaties banning torture. Critics on Capitol Hill and
elsewhere have said that memo provided the legal underpinnings for
subsequent abuses of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq. Reacting to the
White House release, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on
the Judiciary Committee (news
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web sites), accused the administration of continuing to withhold
information. "Though this is a self-serving selection, at least it is a
beginning," Leahy said. "But for the Judiciary Committee and the Senate
to find the whole truth, we will need much more cooperation and
extensive hearings." ___ Associated Press writers Curt Anderson, Robert
Burns and Scott Lindlaw contributed to this article.
Abu Ghraib Prison Torture Scandal Goes to the Highest Level:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=16336
James Bamford's 'A Pretext for War' book on the Neoconservative
warmongers:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=16388
9/11 Attack Happened because of US Support for Israel:
http://www.itszone.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=16601
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