Times Of War

    

U.S.'s Ashcroft Won't Release or Discuss Torture Memo (Update2)

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, warned that he might be risking a contempt citation from Congress, told lawmakers he won't release or discuss memoranda that news reports say offered justification for torturing suspected terrorists.

Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Ashcroft about reports in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the New York Times that the Justice Department advised the White House in 2002 and 2003 that it might not be bound by U.S. and international laws prohibiting torture. Ashcroft said he wouldn't reveal advice he gave to President George W. Bush or discuss it with Congress.

"The president has a right to hear advice from his attorney general, in confidence,'' Ashcroft said. He also refused to answer whether he personally believes torture can be justified under certain circumstances.

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Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and chairman of the committee, asked Ashcroft whether the memos in question are classified. After consulting with staff members, Ashcroft replied, "Some of these memos might be classified in some ways, and for some purposes.''

Durbin called that answer "an evasion.''
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"This administration rejects torture,'' Ashcroft said. Bush "has not directed or ordered any conduct that would violate the Constitution of the United States,'' any U.S. laws or any international treaties, he said.

Ashcroft challenged the lawmakers on whether their questions were appropriate. "We are at war,'' Ashcroft said. "And for us to begin to discuss all the legal ramifications of the war is not in our best interest, and it has never been in times of war."

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