CIA Memos Show Bush Authorized Detention Centers and Interrogation Techniques

The ACLU has won a court battle which has forced the CIA to admit the existence of two memos from George Bush authorizing overseas detention centers and 'aggressive' interrogation techniques.

After years of denials, the CIA has formally acknowledged the existence of two classified documents governing aggressive interrogation and detention policies for terrorism suspects, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

But CIA lawyers say the documents -- memos from President Bush and the Justice Department -- are still so sensitive that no portion can be released to the public.
[...]
Friday's letter from John L. McPherson, the CIA's associate general counsel, lists two documents that pertain to the ACLU's records request.

The ACLU describes the first as a "directive" signed by Bush governing CIA interrogation methods or allowing the agency to set up detention facilities outside the United States. McPherson describes it as a "memorandum." In September, Bush confirmed the existence of secret CIA prisons and transferred 14 remaining terrorism suspects from them to Guantanamo Bay.

The second document is an August 2002 legal memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel to the CIA general counsel. The ACLU describes it as "specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top al-Qaeda members." (This document is separate from another widely publicized Justice memo, also issued in August 2002, that narrowed the definition of torture. The Justice Department has since rescinded the latter.)
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The ACLU will now pursue the release of these documents. Bushco can try and hide behind 'national security reasons' all it likes but this admission by the CIA that these memos exist and that Bush personally had a hand in ordering these detention facilities and so-called 'aggressive interrogation techniques' before he was even given the power by congress through the recent passage of the detainee bill to do so shows that he can't blame his subordinates, lawyers or a few bad apples anymore for the torture inflicted upon those in US detention and it certainly shouldn't be the job of the CIA to protect him from public scrutiny - especially since the administration claims that it is within its legal rights to make these decisions. If this is all above board, why are they hiding what they've done?