Bush: No Torture; Senator: No Info
Reacting to controversy sparked by a New York Times article yesterday about two secret Department of Justice legal opinions in 2005 that at least arguably conflict with contemporaneous public administration statements about torture, President George W. Bush reiterated today that the U.S. doesn’t torture prisoners.
Plus, the president insisted, the interrogation techniques at issue “have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of Congress,” reports the New York Times in a follow-up article today.
However, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee scoffed at the president’s contention, saying that the Bush administration has not kept Congress informed and has routinely withheld key legal documents, the Times reports.
“I find it unfathomable that the committee tasked with oversight of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program would be provided more information by the New York Times than by the Department of Justice,” Rockefeller wrote in a Thursday letter to acting attorney general, Peter Keisler, seeking copies of all opinions on interrogation since 2004.
As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, the chairs of the House and Senate judiciary committees also are seeking DOJ documents.
