Security obscures why administration sought memos on uses of torture

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http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vptor103842811jun10,0,7175578.story?coll=ny-editorials-headlines
Tormented truths
Security obscures why administration sought memos on uses of torture

June 10, 2004


Bush administration officials had torture on their minds long before the now infamous prisoner abuses took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. That's clear. What's not so clear is whether they were exploring the boundaries of the laws against torture in order to ensure those lines were respected, or were in search of artful ways to skirt them.


Testifying before Congress Tuesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft hotly denied any White House design to torture prisoners or to protect U.S. interrogators from prosecution if they crossed the line. And a Pentagon spokesman said the March memo was merely part of an internal administration debate on how to obtain information from al-Qaida operatives that never became policy.


That argument, distilled to its essence, is that the president, as commander in chief, is the law when it comes to the enemy. The fate of combatants is the president's alone to decide, unchecked by the courts or any other authority, administration lawyers said.

That's a very dangerous notion for a free country. The high court should reject Bush's brash power grab. And Congress should insist the administration hand over any memos that offer a candid view of its thinking about torture, an evil that should have remained unthinkable