Pentagon Releases '03 Memo on Harsh Tactics
Posted by Matt Ortega on April 2, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Late Tuesday, the Pentagon released a 2003 memo from the Department of Justice on the treatment of detainees.
The Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, outlines legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas -- so long as they did not specifically intend to torture their captors.
Even so, the memo noted, the president's wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by the U.N. treaties against torture.
"Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion," said the memo written by John Yoo, who was then deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.
The memo was rescinded in December 2003.
