Groups seek to have Bush lawyers disbarred

WASHINGTON, May 18 (UPI) -- Bush administration lawyers should be disbarred for crafting the rationale for interrogation techniques many view as torture, two liberal groups said Monday.

Voters For Peace and Velvet Revolution filed complaints Monday with state bars in California, the District of Columbia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas against 12 lawyers, CNN reported.

"Just as the bar would suspend an attorney who advised a police officer to torture and brutalize a detained immigrant or criminal defendant, the bar must suspend these attorneys for advocating and causing the torture of war detainees," said Kevin Zeese, a spokesman for the groups.

The complaints were filed against John Ashcroft, John Yoo, Michael Chertoff Jay Bybee, Stephen Bradbury, Alberto Gonzales, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington.

Ashcroft, Gonzales, and Mukasey served as attorney general during President George W. Bush's administration, while Chertoff was Homeland Security secretary.