JURIST - Paper Chase: Bush administration disavows DOJ memo on interrogation techniques

In an effort to distance itself from leaked Justice Department memos seeming to give the government authority to use interrogation techniques barred by international law, the Bush administration has declassified and released several internal documents it says demonstrate that Bush never authorized torture against detainees from Afghanistan and Iraq. Justice department officials called the August 2002 memo [PDF] overbroad and irrelevant and said that all legal advice given by the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel on interrogations will be reviewed. However, some of the documents released late Tuesday could create more controversy for the Bush administration. According to a February 2002 memo signed by President Bush:

Pursuant to my authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive of the United States, and relying on the opinion [PDF] of the Department of Justice dated January 22, 2002, and on the legal opinion rendered by the Attorney General in his letter [PDF] of February 1, 2002, I hereby determine as follows ...

I accept the legal conclusion of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice that I have the authority under the Constitution to suspend Geneva as between the United States and Afghanistan, but I decline to exercise that authority at this time.... I reserve the right to exercise this authority in this or future conflicts.

Read the full memo here [PDF]. The Geneva Conventions can be reviewed here. The internal documents also include new details on the range of interrogation techniques approved by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for use at Guantanamo Bay. These techniques, which were later rescinded, include stripping detainees to humiliate them, using dogs to scare them and forcing them to remain in stressful positions. The administration also released this summary [PDF] of interrogation techniques approved and used. Wednesday's Washington Post has the full story. The Washington Post also posts some of the documents released by the Bush administration. The Defense Department has this press release, which includes links to several additional DOD documents.