Judiciary chairs want AG 2005 opinions
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Congressional leaders Thursday asked the U.S. Justice Department for secret legal opinions in 2005 that authorized use of harsh interrogation techniques.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., said his committee has wanted information about the department's legal interpretations of the law for some time, The New York Times reported.
The opinions on interrogation techniques against terrorism suspects remain in effect, Bush administration sources told the Times. Officials within the administration at the Justice Department said the 2005 memorandum did not change an administration’s statement in 2004 that publicly renounced torture as "abhorrent."
The 2005 opinions were revealed Thursday by the Times. A February 2005 briefing permitted harsh interrogation tactics based on a 1952 Supreme Court decision that declared only behavior that "shocks the conscious" was unconstitutional.
Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., the House Judiciary Committee chairman, also asked for the Justice Department’s opinions and asked that Steven G. Bradbury, of the department’s office of legal counsel, who signed the opinions, to be available for hearings. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in a statement he could not comment on classified legal advice, but opinions by the department were consistent with the public 2004 memorandum on interrogations.
Spokeswoman: U.S. policy 'not to torture'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The Bush administration hasn't authorized and won't authorize U.S. interrogators to use torture, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Thursday.
"The policy of the United States is not to torture. The president has not authorized it, he will not authorize it," Perino said, responding to questions about an article in The New York Times reporting the U.S. Justice Department issued a secret finding in February 2005 that endorsed harsh interrogation techniques.
"But he had done everything within the corners of the law to make sure that we prevent another attack on this country, which is what we have done in this administration," she said.
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush faced a number of challenges, Perino said during a news briefing. "And he asked his national security team to make sure that we designed and made sure that within the laws we had all the tools that we needed in order to keep this country safe and to prevent another attack."
The United States follows its laws, the spokeswoman said, and "we meet our international obligations, absolutely."
Lesser charge recommended in Haidtha case
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- An investigator recommends a negligent homicide charge for a U.S. Marine sergeant involved in the Haditha massacre, the Pentagon said Thursday.
Sgt. Frank Wuterich was the senior Marine present when a platoon allegedly killed as many as 24 Iraqi civilians without cause in 2005 after losing a comrade to a roadside bomb. If a military judge at Camp Pendleton follows the investigating officer’s recommendation, none of the Marines allegedly involved would be charged with murder, CNN reported.
Several officers face charges of failing to supervise Marines under their command. No officers were present during the killings.
In addition to participating in unjustified killing, Wuterich allegedly lied in his report, claiming 15 of the Iraqis had been killed by the roadside bomb.
Shwe reported willing to meet Suu Kyi
YANGON, Myanmar, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The head of the military junta in Myanmar told a U.N. envoy he would meet with dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi if she drops support for sanctions.
Gen. Than Shwe also said Suu Kyi must have a less confrontational attitude, the BBC reported.
Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma, has been hit by a wave of protests spearheaded by Buddhist monks. The government admits arresting 2,093 people, while the BBC said its sources inside the country put the number of arrests far higher.
Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. envoy, met with Suu Kyi twice, before and after his meeting with Shwe.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s best-known dissident leader and a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been under house arrest for years. Shwe is said to have been unable to mention her name because of his dislike, the BBC reports.
After a previous series of protests, the government allowed elections but refused to recognize the results when Suu Kyi’s party won.
House OKs bill on contractor prosecution
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- A bill that would bring government-contracted employees working overseas under U.S. law was approved overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives Thursday.
The House voted 389-30 to approve the bill its sponsor says would close a legal loophole for accountability of overseas contract employees for misconduct. The measure would extend the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act to cover all contractors working for the government in a war zone.
"Our military is the best fighting force in the world today, in large part because it is structured in a way that demands accountability, discipline and unity of action," sponsor Rep. David Price, D-N.C., said. "But there is no clear chain of command for contractors, little in the way of standards for training and vetting personnel, and no legal accountability for misconduct."
Contract employees working for the Defense Department are covered under U.S. law, he said. Other contractors, such as Blackwater USA, work for the State Department and other agencies and are not necessarily held liable for criminal activity under current law.
Blackwater is the focus of several investigations following a Sept. 16 incident in which its employees escorting a U.S. Embassy convoy shot and killed Iraqi citizens.
