Justice Dept. may air more terror memos

WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday it may soon release more documents on the Bush administration's war against terror.

Among those documents are some believed to authorize the process of "waterboarding," using water to convince prisoners they are about to drown, The Washington Post said.

Documents already released include memos involving the Bush administration's claim that the president had the power to avoid legal restrictions when fighting terror, as well as secret legal opinions about harsh interrogations, surveillance and other issues, the Post said.

The department said the release of nine memorandums Monday came after an accelerated review of documents sought in a civil lawsuit in California by Jose Padilla. Those documents released were unclassified.

Padilla was detained for years without a hearing as an "enemy combatant" before being charged in a civilian court, and is suing a former Bush administration lawyer, John Yoo, who wrote many of the secret legal opinions, the Post said.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats are calling for a commission to review all the Bush administration documents still held by the Justice Department.