[Ppnews] Previously secret torture memo released

[Political Prisoner News]

Previously secret torture memo released

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that 
its interrogators working abroad would not violate U.S. prohibitions 
against torture unless they "have the specific intent to inflict 
severe pain or suffering," according to a previously secret Justice 
Department memo released Thursday.

The interrogator's "good faith" and "honest belief" that the 
interrogation will not cause such suffering protects the 
interrogator, the memo adds.

"Because specific intent is an element of the offense, the absence of 
specific intent negates the charge of torture," Jay Bybee, then the 
assistant attorney general, wrote in the memo.

The 18-page memo is heavily redacted, with 10 of its 18 pages 
completely blacked out and only a few paragraphs legible on the others.

Another memo released Thursday advises that "the waterboard," or 
simulated drowning, does "not violate the Torture Statute."

It also cites a number of warnings against torture, including 
statements by President Bush and a then-new Supreme Court ruling 
"which raises possible concerns about future U.S. judicial review of 
the [interrogation] Program."

A third memo instructs interrogators to keep records of sessions in 
which "enhanced interrogation techniques" are used. The memo is 
signed by then-CIA director George Tenet and dated January 28, 2003.

The memos were made public by the American Civil Liberties Union, 
which obtained the three CIA-related documents under Freedom of 
Information Act requests.

"These documents supply further evidence, if any were needed, that 
the Justice Department authorized the CIA to torture prisoners in its 
custody," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU National Security Project.

The Bush administration has consistently denied that the United 
States tortures detainees.

Reports say the CIA waterboarded three "high-value detainees," 
including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, although former Justice Department 
official Daniel Levin suggested in congressional testimony in June 
that there had been more than three instances of the practice, which 
critics call torture.

The third document released Thursday was blacked out except for a 
line saying "Unless otherwise approved by Headquarters, CIA officers 
(redacted) may use only Permissible Interrogation Techniques. 
Permissible Interrogation Techniques consist of both (a) Standard 
Techniques and (b) Enhanced Techniques," plus the instruction for 
interrogators to keep records of sessions in which enhanced 
interrogation techniques are used.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/24/cia.torture/index.html




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