Pentagon Releases Declassified Memo Justifying Harsh Interrogation Tactics

Pentagon releases memo on harsh tactics | Pentagon Releases Declassified Memo Justifying Harsh Interrogation Tactics | LARA JAKES JORDAN | AP News | Apr 01, 2008 22:10 EST

The Pentagon on Tuesday made public a now-defunct legal memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terror suspects, saying that President Bush's wartime authority trumps any international ban on torture.

The Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, outlines legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas — so long as they did not specifically intend to torture their captors.

Even so, the memo noted, the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by the U.N. treaties against torture.

"Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion," said the memo written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. ...