I’ve been living in a cave the past few weeks, so I have no idea who Alberto Gonzalez is, and what the story is behind this Torture Memo. As far as I can make out, someone leaked a memo proving that it was now official US policy to condone or allow the torture of terror suspects, is that right? Not that “a few bad apples” might have done some regrettable things, but that it is now official policy?
Please tell me I’m wrong…
Gonzalez is the White House Counsel, and will soon replace Ashcroft as Attorney General. He is the author of a memo asserting legal justifications for denying Iraqi POWs their rights under the Geneva Convention.
You are, sadly, not wrong. Washington Post story. The memo in PDF format.
Here’s the full text in HTML format.
Er, make that Afghani POWs. Also, the memo has been misrepresented a little – here is a story, with links to relevant documents:
There’s a summary of the memeo here. It basically states that any captured Taliban are not POWs and therefore are not protected under the Geneva Convention.
[quote]
“The nature of [a “war” against terrorism] places a high premium on …factors such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors … and the need to try terrorists for war crimes… [t]his new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners…”
A copy of the memo is here
And this is Mr. Gonzlaes.
Anytime anyone asks me about a torture memo, that is my standard reply.
The ACLU has, under the Freedom Of Information Act, obtained copies of a number of memoes and e-mails regarding the questioning of prisoners that they have collected under a page they identify as Records Released in Response to Torture FOIA Request. (Each memo/e-mail is hyperlnked to a .pdf document.)
In conjunction with the previous documents, the ACLU released a statement in which they claimed that FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques.
Opponents and defenders of the administration have each claimed that the documents thus published say either more or less than their foes claim.
The topic has been more thoroughly debated in some GD and Pit threads, notably in Bush May Have Authorized Torture Via Executive Order. ACLU Obtains New Docs., and those discussions do not need to be repeated in this Forum.