ID:

329

Date:

2008-07-25

Headline:

Justice Advised CIA in '02 About Legal Waterboarding

Reporter's name:

Joby Warrick

Delay/denial:

No

Lawsuit:

Yes

Fees:

No

Media outlet:

The Washington Post

City:

Washington, DC

Summary:

An August 2002 memorandum from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel ("OLC") offered legal cover for CIA interrogators to use specific interrogation techniques, arguing that they would not constitute "torture" unless they would cause "harm lasting months or even years after the acts." The memo - signed by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, and later withdrawn by OLC - advised that because a charge of "torture" required "specific intent" to cause such harm, the belief of an interrogator that his/her actions were not intended to cause severe suffering need only be "honest," a lower standard than "reasonable."

Notes:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) received three documents from the government as part of a FOIA lawsuit filed in 2004. Other coverage included the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/us/25detain.html) and Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/24/AR2008072403455.html). The CIA had declined to confirm or deny the existence the memo, as it referred to a CIA-run detention program, until September 2006, when President George W. Bush confirmed it.

Keywords:

torture, interrogation, terrorism, waterboarding, DOJ, OLC, Bybee, Tenet, al Qaeda

URL:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/24/AR2008072403455.html

Agencies:

CIA
DOJ

States:

DC
US
US Terr./Other

Categories:

classified information
detainees, Guantanamo
detainees, prison
intelligence
justice
national security
terrorism