Bush officials defend interrogation techniques

It was billed as a showdown between the legal advisors who promoted the Bush administration's interrogation policies toward terrorists and the congressional critics who argued that the harsh tactics amounted to torture.

But at today's hearings before the House Judiciary Committee, David Addington, the chief of staff and former legal advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, and John Yoo, the former Department of Justice official who helped draft a 2002 legal memo authorizing the techniques, pretty much denied doing anything wrong.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) quizzed Addington on his precise role in approving the CIA's harsh interrogation program.

"If the CIA program is found to be unlawful would you bear any responsible for that?" Nadler asked.

"Is that a moral question or legal question?" Addington responded.

"Interpret it as you will," Nadler said.

It is not clear which interpretation Addington used, but his answer, ultimately, was clear: "No, I wouldn't be responsible."

It was left to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) (pictured) to nail the thing, questioning Addington about his visits to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asking whether he discussed interrogation techniques with officials there.

Addington said he did not recall.

"It is hard to fathom you would not have recollections on specific conversations on types of interrogations methods," Wasserman Schultz said.

"Is there a questioned appended, ma'am?" Addington said.

"I don't believe that you do not recall whether you discussed specific interrogation methods. So I will ask you again."

"As I said to you," Addington said, "I don't recall."

Update: Full report of the hearing here.

 

-- Julian E. Barnes and Johanna Neuman

Photo: Lawrence Jackson / Associated Press

Comments

[ed6567]

Addington and Yoo both lackeys of Cheney and Bush. What do they know except what they're told to do? Go after Tricky Dick and Butt head Bush, the real criminals. These guys are so arrogant, it's a pity it's not a real court room where they can be held in contempt and jailed. What arrogant asses both of them laughing at congress in their faces.

[Rob]

Did the LA Times really only devote this much space to this story? It is a very important story from a legal perspective, a political perspective and simply the combativeness and tension makes it worth more space than this. I guess this is the result of LA Times cutting their staff so much. Good political coverage must be found elsewhere.

[droid57]

Hey I say, If it saves one soldiers live or limb do what every it takes.
It's a war people, they cut civilians heads off with a hack saw for Godsakes.

The liberial bloggers are so naive are you sure the age limit is 13?

[Slowik Georges]

Bush and Cheney are responsible for a lot more than CIA interrogation techniques. There are more than one way to mistreat others, look at how many are stranded now with an economy down the drain and no chance to change that in a very near future.
War doesn't justify torture.
Obeying an order is not an excuse. At least that is what the judges of the Nuremberg trials said to the Nazis....

[l. Mahalo]

Bush hating lemmings are more interested in their own inane indulgences than what the enemy does to us...chopping off heads, blowing up children, etc...compared to our making someone think he's going to drown for example.

I don't care what it takes to keep terrorists from killing more.

As a matter of fact, I prefer that the fighting is done over there instead of here. (Just think of what happened to England and the rest of allied Europe during WW1 and WW2.) If the killing and destruction were on our soil, you pusillanimous lemmings would be singing a different tune.

[Livingthetruth]

In reply to Droid57:

Not all US soldiers are good and the US government is not good anymore. Yes, the military is also good and does alot for us and I am extremely grateful for their sacrifice but remember the people at the top of the chain who really pull the strings you don't see. At one time our government was not that bad. Thats changed, remember the government is only as good as the people running it and the people who voted them in. Remember, we invaded Iraq. Bush and Co. just used a well known lie as an excuse to invade and yes it was admited by so many insiders. The American people need to start looking at independent news sources, not the mass media they work for the enemy now and by that I don't mean Al Queda. Start talking to actually people involved bystanders, etc. Americans need to start thinking critically and intelligently. The more you're into politics (reading, researching and not just taking orders) the more you know and it is more than skin deep let me tell you. I believe that don't question this attitude has gotten us into alot of trouble and is one of the reasons why things are as bad as they are now. I say this to you: Start questioning the military, everything Political, and things in general. The real truth, if you can find it, will probably shock you.

[Charles William Gordon Harmon]

Cheney, Bush, Gonzalez, Rumsfeld, Bolton, Negroponte,etc. are the real culprits. All of them unindicted co-conspirators. Their crimes are crimes against humanity. If anyone really believes there is an actual war on terror going on, they are either ignorant sheep, or nazi inclined traitors. Bush and Cheney have violated our constitution hundreds of times. Shame on the Congress for not implementing impeachment proceedings. To allow their crimes to go unpunished is a disgrace to all Americans. Droid57, you need to be deported.

[spanky5342]

The arrogance that these two criminals brought to the Congress pretty much sucked the air out of the room. Addington, being Cheney's left testicle, was clearly the more openly contemptuous and vigorously insulting. These two's attitudes so clearly reflect the utter contempt that the current executive branch has toward the Congress and all those in it. And no one in the Congress seems capable of laying a glove on them under any circumstance. This says far more about the Congress than these two criminals ever could.

[spanky5342]

The arrogance that these two criminals brought to the Congress pretty much sucked the air out of the room. Addington, being Cheney's left testicle, was clearly the more openly contemptuous and vigorously insulting. These two's attitudes so clearly reflect the utter contempt that the current executive branch has toward the Congress and all those in it. And no one in the Congress seems capable of laying a glove on them under any circumstance. This says far more about the Congress than these two criminals ever could.