Oft-spurned Senator repeats request for White House torture docs Nick Juliano

Published: Thursday October 16, 2008





Print This Email This Patrick Leahy, in his role as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has often found himself on the receiving end of a metaphorical middle finger from the White House when he's tried to exercise oversight of the Bush administration.



Undeterred, Leahy reiterated his request for White House torture documents following reports that the White House sent the CIA memos explicitly authorizing the use of the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding.



Leahy and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the committee's ranking member, most recently requested any and all White House waterboarding documents in August, but the White House said it had already been fully cooperative.



Cue Leahy's surprise when that assurance turned out to be untrue.



"I now read in The Washington Post that the White House issued two previously undisclosed memoranda to the CIA in 2003 and 2004," Leahy wrote Wednesday in a letter to White House counsel Fred Fielding. "It is disturbing to be reminded, at this late date, of the stonewalling, misdirection and lack of accountability that has characterized this administration from its first days in office."



Leahy said he and the committee's staff were "surprised" by the Post's report on explicit waterboarding authorization. CIA had requested the memos in 2002 fearing that high ranking Bush administration officials would try to avoid accountability in the event that the use of waterboarding became public. The pair of memos was sent in 2003 and 2004.



A former intelligence official described CIA's view on waterboarding to the Post as, "'We don't want to continue unless you tell us in writing that it's not only legal but is the policy of the administration.'"



Previous memos from the Justice Department, including several 2002 memos obtained by the ACLU and previously reported on by RAW STORY indicated that Justice had signed off on waterboarding. The Post article was the first indication of explicit White House approval.



"I would appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible," Leahy wrote to Fielding, "regarding what additional materials exist that have not been shared with the Senate Judiciary Committee."





Leahy's full letter is reprinted below:



Mr. Fred Fielding, Esq.



Counsel to the President



The White House



1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.



Washington, D.C. 20500







Dear Mr. Fielding:







You and I have communicated several times about the Judiciary Committees oversight and legislative interest in the Governments use of torture, such as waterboarding, and other harsh interrogation practices. Most recently, Senator Specter and I wrote to you in August, again seeking materials about the legal justification for these practices. In your August 22 response, you refused our requests while claiming that the White House has been most accommodating to this Committee and to the Congress in its inquiries on these matters. Several Judiciary Committee Republicans went so far as to rely on your letter while contending that the White House had been forthcoming and there was no need to subpoena Department of Justice materials that have been withheld during the last five years.







I now read in The Washington Post that the White House issued two previously undisclosed memoranda to the CIA in 2003 and 2004. It is disturbing to be reminded, at this late date, of the stonewalling, misdirection and lack of accountability that has characterized this administration from its first days in office. Not only did those White House memoranda come as a surprise to me and the Senate Judiciary Committee, but I see from Chairman Rockefellers reaction that he was kept in the dark, as well.







I would appreciate hearing from you as soon as possible regarding what additional materials exist that have not been shared with the Senate Judiciary Committee.







Sincerely,





PATRICK LEAHY



Chairman







