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THE US Justice Department releases a declassified memorandum revealing use of harsh interrogation methods for suspected terrorists held abroad. The disclosure of the 2003 document, a detailed 81-page opinion written by John C. Yoo, is likely to fuel the already intense debate about legal boundaries in the face of a continuing terrorist threat.
Yoo at the time was the second-ranking official at the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.
His memorandum is the latest document to illuminate the legal foundation that Bush administration lawyers used after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to give the White House broad powers to capture, detain and interrogate suspects around the globe.
The thrust of Yoo's brief has long been known, but its specific contents were revealed on Tuesday after government lawyers turned it over to the American Civil Liberties Union.
"This is a monument to executive supremacy and the imperial presidency. It's also a road map for the Pentagon for fending off any prosecutions," said Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School and the Washington College of Law at American University.
The memorandum gave the military broad latitude to use harsh interrogation methods. It claimed that federal laws prohibiting assault were not applicable to military interrogators dealing with suspected terrorists because of White House authority during wartime.
The documents were made public roughly a month after Bush vetoed a bill banning harsh interrogation methods.
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