Ashcroft stands by conclusions of torture memos

By Susan Crabtree - The Hill
Friday, July 18, 2008 - Web Link
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July 17, 2008

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday defended the conclusions of two Justice Department memos outlining the use of tough interrogation tactics on detainees, although he said he disagreed with the legal reasoning used in them.

In testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft acknowledged that the first legal opinion, eventually withdrawn and rewritten, contained faulty analysis. After the memos were criticized by Justice officials, “it was not a hard decision” to withdraw them, he said.

Ashcroft, who served as attorney general from 2001 to 2005, said he believed that the Bush administration has not committed acts of torture in its interrogations of detainees and that it should be commended for avoiding another terrorist attack.

“I don’t know of any acts of torture that have been committed,” Ashcroft said. “I would attribute the absence of an attack to the excellent work and the dedication of those whose lives are committed to protecting the country.”

Several Democrats, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), Maxine Waters (Calif.) and Robert Wexler (Fla.), asked Ashcroft about the practice of waterboarding and whether the interrogation method was used before the early legal memos were rescinded.

Ashcroft said he knew of three times in which the method was used, but could not recall the first time. He also maintained that waterboarding, as it was then described by the CIA, does not amount to torture.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently refused to say whether waterboarding is currently legal because it is no longer used by CIA interrogators. CIA Director Michael Hayden barred waterboarding in 2006.