Former AG John Ashcroft Before House Committee On Interrogation
Before the House Judiciary Committee, former Attorney General John Ashcroft budged only slightly on memos the Justice Department issued during the Bush administration’s first term that approved harsh interrogation methods of detainees of the “War on Terror.” The memos written by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, argued that the use of harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, did not amount to torture. Ashcroft subsequently rescinded Yoo’s memos after concerns were raised about their legal reasoning. Ashcroft did not criticize Yoo’s work, only saying that the department’s legal analysis could be improved upon. At yesterday's hearing, Ashcroft also provided little insight into an internal White House struggle to force the Justice Department to authorize a secret data-collection program. See ACS material, including testimony before Congress, on Yoo’s memos, and torture here, here and here.