Alberto Gonzales reconsiders "excruciating and agonizing" pain

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=5&u=/nm/20041231/ts_nm/security_torture_dc

U.S. Replaces Memo on Torture with New Guidelines

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) released a new memo on Friday to replace a controversial document outlining how to avoid violating U.S. and international terror statutes while interrogating prisoners. In a Dec. 30 memorandum, released early on Friday, the department stepped back from an August 2002 memo that said only the most severe types of torture were not permissible under U.S. and international agreements against torture.

The new memo was more broad in its definition of what could be considered torture, and therefore what was unacceptable under U.S. law and under the United Nations (news - web sites) Convention Against Torture.

The new memorandum was released on a federal holiday, just one week before White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales -- to whom the August 2002 memo was addressed -- was to appear before the Senate for confirmation hearings. Gonzales has been nominated by President Bush (news - web sites) to be the new Attorney General. "Questions have since been raised ... about the appropriateness and relevance of the non-statutory discussion in the August 2002 Memorandum," the Dec. 30 memo said. In particular, the Dec. 30 memo disagrees with the statement that "severe" pain under the terror statute was limited to pain "equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death." The new document also disagreed that "severe" pain is limited to "excruciating and agonizing" pain.

BELOW: President Bush poses with his bitch, attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales. You know, the guy who buried his DUI records right before he stole his first term in office. That bitch.

the concept of inflicting *ANY* level of pain on a helpless captive is totally unacceptable and uncivilized.

the fact that our government has established guidelines for "appropriate" levels of torture makes me ashamed of being american and ashamed of my military service, albeit wounded captives while i was in service were treated to the same level of medical care as wounded GIs, & abuse of a prisoner was unthinkable.

what have we descended to under these monsters?

but just like Bush, watch out after he is in the office. That anyone, at anytime in their life - but especially a high ranking Justice Department official - thought torture is appropriate says volumes about the guy. He's just in CYA mode until after the confirmation. If Asscroft could get confirmed with all his baggage, this guy is a shoo in.