Justice Department Finds “Torture Memo” Authors Exercised “Poor Judgment”http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/02/19/us-lawyers-misconduct-shows-need-torture-inquiryThe long-awaited US Justice Department report on the conduct of Bush administration lawyers who provided a legal rationale for torture and other abusive interrogation techniques underscores the need for a full-scale investigation into post-9/11 detainee abuse, Human Rights Watch said today.
The report, conducted by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, concludes that top lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel of the Bush-era Justice Department did not violate legal ethics rules when they wrote memos authorizing the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, but rather, "exercised poor judgment."
However, a cover letter accompanying the report said that an earlier version of the report found "professional misconduct" by two of the lawyers, but that the senior career official at the Office of Professional Responsibility responsible for reviewing the report, David Margolis, overruled that finding.
"Justice Department lawyers have an obligation to uphold the law, so when they write legal opinions that were designed to provide legal cover for torture, they need to be held accountable with more than a slap on the wrist," said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch.
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