ACLU Calls for Release of Three Secret Torture Memos

[struggle4progress]

(12/5/2007)

Justice Department Documents Authorizing Harsh CIA Interrogation Methods Should Be Made Public

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: [email protected]; [phone]

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union is in court today calling for the release of three documents issued by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that are believed to have authorized the CIA to use extremely harsh interrogation methods. The government failed to identify or provide the memos, which were issued in May of 2005, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the ACLU requesting information on U.S. treatment and interrogation of detainees.

"This is yet another example of the government’s attempt to bypass legal prohibitions on torture while engaging in a cover-up of its illegal conduct," said Amrit Singh, a staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. "These memos must immediately be released to the public and high level officials must be held accountable for their role in spawning torture and prisoner abuse."

The New York Times disclosed the existence of the first two memos in a front-page article on October 4, 2007. The Times reported that the first memo explicitly authorized interrogators to use combinations of harsh interrogation methods including waterboarding, head slapping, and exposure to freezing temperatures. The second memo, issued by OLC as Congress prepared to enact legislation prohibiting "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," declared that none of the CIA’s interrogation methods violated that standard.

"Through these memos, the Office of Legal Counsel created a legal framework that was specifically intended to allow the CIA to violate both U.S. and international law," said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. "It’s clear that these documents are being kept secret not for national security reasons but for political ones." ... http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/32985prs20071205.html

[pinto]

1. Good move, ACLU.

:thumbsup: