By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
October 5, 2007
WASHINGTON - President Bush defended his administration's
methods of detaining and questioning terrorism suspects on
Friday, saying both are successful and lawful.
"When we find somebody who may have information regarding
a potential attack on America, you bet we're going to detain
them, and you bet we're going to question them," he said
during a hastily called Oval Office appearance. "The American
people expect us to find out information, actionable intelligence
so we can help protect them. That's our job."
Bush volunteered his thoughts on a report on two secret 2005
memos that authorized extreme interrogation tactics against
terror suspects. "This government does not torture people," the
president said.
Meanwhile, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin,
D-Mich., demanded a copy of a third Justice Department memo
justifying military interrogations of terror suspects held
outside the United States.
In a letter to Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, Levin
wrote that two years ago he requested and was denied the March
14, 2003, legal opinion. Levin asked if Mukasey would agree
to release the opinion if the Senate confirms him as attorney
general, and cited what he described as a history of the Justice
Department stonewalling Congress.
"Such failures and the repeated refusal of DoJ to provide
Congress with such documents has prevented the Congress from
fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities to conduct oversight," Levin
wrote.
The White House said Mukasey has not been cleared to read
the classified documents Levin requested.
The two Justice Department legal opinions from 2005 were disclosed
in Thursday's editions of The New York Times, which reported
that the first opinion authorized the use of painful methods,
such as head slaps, freezing temperatures and simulated drownings
known as waterboarding, in combination.
That secret opinion came months after a December 2004 opinion
in which the Justice Department publicly declared torture "abhorrent" and
the administration seemed to back away from claiming authority
for such practices, and after the withdrawal of a 2002 classified
Justice opinion that had allowed certain aggressive interrogation
practices so long as they stopped short of producing pain equivalent
to experiencing organ failure or death.
The second Justice opinion was issued later in 2005, just
as Congress was working on an anti-torture bill. The opinion
declared that none of the CIA's interrogation practices would
violate provisions in the legislation banning "cruel,
inhuman and degrading" treatment of detainees, The Times
said, citing interviews with unnamed current and former officials.
Though both memos remain in effect, the White House insisted
they represented no change from the 2004 policy.
"We stick to U.S. law and international obligations," Bush
said, without taking questions after a brief picture-taking
session.
Speaking emphatically, the president noted that "highly
trained professionals" conduct any questioning. "And
by the way," he said, "we have gotten information
from these high-value detainees that have helped protect you."
"The American people expect their government to take
action to protect them from further attack," Bush said. "And
that's exactly what this government is doing. And that's exactly
what we'll continue to do."
He also said the techniques used by the United States "have
been fully disclosed to appropriate members of the United States
Congress" an indirect slap at the torrent of criticism
that has flowed from the Democratic-controlled Congress since
the disclosure of the memos.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said those briefed
on Capitol Hill "are satisfied that the policy of the
United States and the practices do not constitute torture." She
refused to define, however, what would be considered torture,
or off-limits, in interrogations.
"I just fundamentally disagree that that would be a good
thing for national security," she said. "I think
the American people recognize that there are needs that the
federal government has to keep certain information private
in order to help their national security. We cannot provide
more information about techniques. It's not appropriate."
But House and Senate Democrats disagree that there is sufficient
clarity on the matter, and are demanding to see the memos.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-WVa.,
said in a statement Friday he is "tired of these games."
"They can't say that Congress has been fully briefed
while refusing to turn over key documents used to justify the
legality of the program," Rockefeller said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Rep. Jerrold
Nadler, D-N.Y., promised a congressional inquiry.
Another White House spokesman, meanwhile, criticized the leak
of such information to the news media and questioned the motivations
of those who do so.
"It's troubling," White House deputy press secretary
Tony Fratto said Friday. "I've had the awful responsibility
to have to work with The New York Times and other news organizations
on stories that involve the release of classified information.
And I can tell you that every time I've dealt with any of these
stories, I have felt that we have chipped away at the safety
and security of America with the publication of this kind of
information."
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