] 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/iwpList150/9E9C42170FA44842C1256B66005AA139

Ashcroft answers re: Torture and memos