Ashcroft faults '02-'03 torture memos
Former Justice chief says it wasn't hard to withdraw opinions
Associated Press
July 18, 2008
WASHINGTON - Former Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday that "it was not a hard decision" to withdraw Justice Department legal opinions that approved the use of harsh interrogation methods that critics say amount to torture.

Ashcroft, testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee, said he did not necessarily disagree with the conclusions of the two memos that were written in 2002 and 2003 but later rescinded. But he said the legal reasoning behind both memos was flawed and needed to be corrected.

At the heart of both opinions was a controversial definition of torture. It said "only extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure should be prohibited in the interrogations of terrorist suspects. Ashcroft, who served as attorney general from 2001 to 2005, had initially approved both memos. They were written at least in part by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo.

"It became apparent in the further examination of those opinions, when made in another time frame, that there were matters of concerns that were brought to my opinion," Ashcroft told lawmakers. "It was not a hard decision for me."

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