Bush team accused of sanctioning torture
By Edward Alden in Washington
Published: June 8 2004 19:33 | Last Updated: June 8 2004 19:33
The administration of President George W. Bush was accused on Tuesday by some members of Congress of sanctioning torture by preparing legal analyses that said harsh treatment of detainees was permissible under US and international laws.
The charges came following the leak of memos from 2002 and 2003 in which senior lawyers from the justice and defence departments had concluded that torture may be legally permitted as part of the war on terrorism.
In heated exchanges before the Senate judiciary committee, the charges were angrily denied by John Ashcroft, the US attorney-general, who endorsed the arguments contained in the administration's memos.
But senior Democratic senators charged that the administration had in effect authorised the sorts of abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and had endangered US soldiers by weakening the international prohibitions against torture.
more here
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1086445511567&p=1012571727088