I've wondered if some of this extensive cloying R. Reagan coverage is a psyop to keep down public awareness of this memo and its implications.

Acidus wrote:
] ] Ashcroft refused to provide copies of the memos, saying
] ] they were part of his private advice to the president.
] ]
] ] "We believe that to provide this kind of information
] ] would impair the ability of advice-giving in the
] ] executive branch," Ashcroft said.
] ]
] ] Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said
] ] critical information was being withheld from the
] ] Congress. "These memos clearly do exist, and ... they
] ] appear to be an effort to redefine torture and narrow the
] ] prohibition against it by carving out a class of
] ] something called exceptional interrogation," she said.
] ]
] ] "So these memos actually either reverse or substantially
] ] alter 30 years of interpretation by our body, as well as
] ] the executive, of the Geneva Conventions."
] ]
] ] Ashcroft said it was not the Justice Department's policy
] ] to define torture.
] ]
] ] But he did say the international rules governing
] ] treatment of detainees did not apply to groups like al
] ] Qaeda since only countries are signatories to the
] treaty.
]
] Remember the ABM Treaty. The "Oh its invalid, because that
] country no longer exists" crap. Do you think this will be
] different?
]
] Ashcroft in 3 months: "Well Senator, those rules really didn't
] apply in Iraq, since at the time of the abuse, it wasn't a
] sovereign nation. Furthermore, the Geneva Conventions include
] an exemtption if a signatory is at war with a non-signatory
] country, that the signator is exempt from all convention
] mandates. The "Iraq" that signed the Geneva Conventions in
] 1958, was a Monarchy that was overthrown and completely
] dissolved in 1959. The US believes thse 2 reasons exempt it
] from needing to have followed the conventions during the Iraqi
] war."
]
]
] And whats this about not releasing the memos? We aren't
] talking about the Bush Administration whoring itself to the
] energy industry and then not wanting to release the memos. We
] are talking about the discussion and decisions that lead to
] the rape, torture, and possibly murder of humans beings,
] imprisioned without trial. Ashcroft isn't Bush's lawyer; the
] conversations and advice are in no way private or privledged.
]
] If you were on trial for conspircy to commit murder, and said
] "oh these notes to my accomplice just contain personal advice,
] and we will not turn it over" the judge would laugh while
] busting your ass into jail for contempt of court and
] obstruction of justice. Oh course, what do you do when the
] person obstructing justice is the head of the justice
] department?
]
] Geneva Convention Exemptions:
] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Geneva_Convention
] Geneva Convention Signatoies
] http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList150/9E9C42170F
] A44842C1256B66005AA139

RE: Ashcroft answers re: Torture and memos