White House denies torture assertion

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday denied reports that a secretly issued Justice Department opinion in early 2005 cleared the way for the return of painful interrogation tactics that the Bush administration had earlier seemed to renounce.

"This country does not torture," White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters. "It is a policy of the United States that we do not torture and we do not."

~snip~

That secret opinion, which explicitly allowed using the painful methods in combination, came a year after a 2004 opinion in which Justice publicly declared torture "abhorrent" and the administration seemed to back away from claiming authority for such practices.

Asked about the story Thursday, Perino confirmed existence of the Feb. 5, 2005, classified opinion but would not comment on whether it authorized specific practices, such as head-slapping and simulated drowning. She said the 2005 opinion did not reinterpret the law.

Instead, Perino said the 2004 anti-torture opinion was a "broad and general" interpretation of the law and "the February 2005 one was different in that it was focused on specifics."

"It's a different document altogether," she said.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071004/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush...

[Solly Mack]

1. Thanks!! I knew they would deny it but I had to see/hear them do it

[OnyxCollie]

2. THIS COUNTRY

does not torture. We outsource it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. That's probably a lot closer to the truth.

You know if the WH is saying they do not torture - then they do. They just hide what they are doing in some manner.

[dkofos]

3. Paid fucking LIAR. What did you expect??

[NightOwwl]

5. Countries don't torture...

but people do.

Want to try another explanation Dana?

[Kagemusha]

6. The NY Times reported the document defines torture as non-torture.

Simple as that. So the US doesn't 'torture', it just tortures. Simple.

[Trillo]

20. Yes.

Torture = enhanced interrogation technique
Torture ≠ enhanced interrogation technique

The Decider decides.

We are allowed to analyze:
Torture = enhanced interrogation technique ≠ enhanced interrogation technique ≠ Torture ⇒
Torture ≠ Torture.

Simple.

[rodeodance]

7. We have heard that Refrain over and over and over.

[mod mom]

8. Here is the play by play:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004378.php#more

[coalition_unwilling]

9. Torture is as American as apple pie and baseball (n/t)

[peaches2003]

10. If their lips are moving...

they're lying.

[tom_paine]

11. Wow. They lie by not lying. An amazing technique that Hitler could have used

although, to be fair, he didn't have to, as our Bushie Tyrants do for a little while longer, so why bother?

Amazing. She basically says that the document is real and that it focuses on the specifics (of torture), and then says "but the criticism of the document is untrue".

Wow. I am in awe at how advanced the science of lying is. And how masterful these Bushies are at it, although if they had to contend with a Free Citizenry and a Free Press, they would be quickly exposed for the frauds they are.

Anyone know where we can find these things?

[rodeodance]

12. Topic subject Did Rice know about secret torture approval in 2005?

Forum Name General Discussion
Topic subject Did Rice know about secret torture approval in 2005?
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
1974816, Did Rice know about secret torture approval in 2005?
Posted by deminks on Thu Oct-04-07 11:46 AM

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/04/rice-secret-memo /

In 2004, the Washington Post revealed a secret 2002 Justice Department memo that claimed that the torture of detainees in the war on terror “may be justified.” The memo, written by John Yoo, was so secret, that even then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell were unaware of its existence until the Post’s report.

Upon learning of the memo, Rice was reportedly livid that she had been left out of the loop. According to a former White House official, she and Powell “confronted” then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, telling him “there would be no more secret opinions“:



Rice “very angrily said there would be no more secret opinions on international and national security law,” the official said, adding that she threatened to take the matter to the president if Gonzales kept them out of the loop again. Powell remarked admiringly, as they emerged, that Rice dressed down the president’s lawyer “in full Nurse Ratched mode,” a reference to the head nurse of the mental hospital in the 1975 film “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

(snip)
Did Rice know about the 2005 memos before the Times revealed them? If so, does she agree with the policy they lay out? If not, will she “take the matter to the president?”

UPDATE: Noting that the Times says “most lawmakers” didn’t know about this secret opinion, Kevin Drum points out that “that means that some of them did” and he’d “like to know which ones.”

[HuffleClaw]

13. they simply have slapped (pun intended) a new label on it

its not 'torture' anymore but “combined effects"!

[Hissyspit]

14. White House Denies (Torture Memo) Report

Source: New York Times

NY Times: Severe interrogation techniques are 'hidden legacy' of Gonzales tenure at Justice
David Edwards and Jason Rhyne

(Updated: White House denies New York Times report)
A secret opinion issued by the Department of Justice in 2005 authorized a vast expansion of interrogation techniques available to the CIA, including painful remedies incorporating simulated drowning, "head-slapping" and exposure to frigid temperatures.

- snip -

White House press secretary Dana Perino, however, denied that report today. "This country does not torture," she told reporters, according to the Associated Press. "It is a policy of the United States that we do not torture and we do not."

"Asked about the story Thursday, Perino confirmed existence of the Feb. 5, 2005, classified opinion but would not comment on whether it authorized specific practices, such as head-slapping and simulated drowning," AP continued. "She said the 2005 opinion did not reinterpret the law."

Perino insisted the 2005 memo was not inconsistent with a 2004 opinion from the Justice Department declaring torture "abhorrent." "We know that these are ruthless individuals who will do anything, and that they're very patient; that they'll do anything to try to carry out their attacks," Perino said. "And this president has put in place -- all within the foursquare corners of the law -- tools in the global war on terror that we need."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/NY_Times_Severe_interroga...

[yellowcanine]

15. Someone should show Dana a video of waterboarding and ask her if that looks like torture to her.

[LiberalFighter]

21. Ask her if she would agree to be waterboarded naked

I'm sure the CIA would strip her naked if they had a chance.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. The only reason that nit-wit Perino can say that "we do not

torture" is that other memos have so narrowly defined the word "torture" that the detainee would have to die or suffer organ failure before it is considered torture. By generally accepted and long-standing international standards, however, the U.S. definitely had tortured, continues to torture and will torture detainees in the future.

No matter how often and how shrilly the torture-enablers speak, the TRUTH always prevails (alas, oft times later rather than sooner).

SILENCE equals CONSENT!

[ejbr]

17. We do not torture,

Saddam has WMDs, Saddam is linked to al Qaida, Saddam is responsible for 9/11, the surge is working, Harriet Miers is qualified, Alberto Gonzales is an upstanding citizen, heckuva job Brownie. Six of one, half dozen of the other.

[tanyev]

18. I'd love to see a photoshop of Dana's head on a parrot's body.

[TrogL]

19. No, they outsource it

[LiberalFighter]

22. Dana Perino is the perfect spokesperson for Bush

A bumbling idiot!

[Xenotime]

23. They also deny they are at war too.

[Myrina]

24. ... of course they can, when they also can change the definition ...

Let them hold themselves to someone else's definition of torture and then, well ...