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Bush Denies CIA Using Torture

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By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG, The New York Times

Published: October 6, 2007

Updated: 10/05/2007 11:56 pm

WASHINGTON - President Bush, reacting to a congressional uproar over the disclosure of secret Justice Department legal opinions permitting the harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects, on Friday defended the methods, declaring, 'This government does not torture people.'

Bush remarked on a subject he does not often publicly discuss - a once-secret Central Intelligence Agency program to detain and interrogate high-profile terrorism suspects.

'I have put this program in place for a reason, and that is to better protect the American people,' the president said, without naming the CIA.

'And when we find somebody who may have information regarding a potential attack on America, you bet we're going to detain them, and you bet we're going to question them - because the American people expect us to find out information - actionable intelligence so we can help protect them. That's our job.'

'Fully Disclosed'

Without confirming the existence of the memorandums or discussing the explicit techniques they authorized, Bush said the government's interrogation methods had been 'fully disclosed to appropriate members of Congress.'

His comments provoked another round of recriminations on Capitol Hill, as Democrats ratcheted up their demands to see the classified memorandums, first reported Thursday by The New York Times.

'The administration can't have it both ways,' said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 'I'm tired of these games. They can't say that Congress has been fully briefed while refusing to turn over key documents used to justify the legality of the program.'

In two separate legal opinions written in 2005, the Justice Department authorized the CIA to barrage terrorism suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures. The memorandums were written just months after a Justice Department opinion in December 2004 declared torture 'abhorrent.'

Administration officials have confirmed the existence of the classified opinions, but will not make them public, saying only that they approved techniques that were 'tough, safe, necessary and lawful.'

New York Times Blasted

On Friday, deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto took the Times to task for publishing the information, saying the newspaper had compromised U.S. security.

'I've had the awful responsibility to have to work with The New York Times and other news organizations on stories that involve the release of classified information,' Fratto said. 'And I could tell you that every time I've dealt with any of these stories, I have felt that we have chipped away at the safety and security of America with the publication of this kind of information.'

The memorandums go to the core of a central theme of the Bush administration - the expansive use of executive power in pursuit of terrorism suspects. That theme has been a running controversy on Capitol Hill, where Democrats, and some Republicans, have been furious at the administration for keeping them out of the loop.

The controversy is expected to come to the fore in confirmation hearings for Michael B. Mukasey, nominated by Bush to succeed former Attorney General Albert Gonzales.

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