US interrogation memo made public

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The Pentagon has declassified a legal memo from March 2003 which approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques for terror suspects held abroad.

The US Justice Department memo, since overruled, said President George W Bush's war-time authority superseded international laws on interrogation.

It gave legal justification for aggressive methods, so long as interrogators did not intend torture.

Its release follows a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

It is the first time the 14 March 2003 document has been released in full to the public. It was rescinded nine months after it was issued.

An update to the army field manual published in 2006 prohibited the use of many aggressive interrogation methods. However, Mr Bush recently vetoed legislation that would have limited the techniques used by the CIA.

'Shove or slap'

The 81-page Justice Department memo was written by John Yoo, then deputy assistant general for the Office of Legal Counsel, to the Pentagon's general counsel, William Hayes.

Mr Yoo wrote: "Our previous opinions make clear that customary international law is not federal law and that the president is free to override it at his discretion."

The memo also offered a defence in case interrogators were charged with breaking US or international laws, saying "necessity or self-defence could provide justifications for any criminal liability".

The document defines torture as "the sum" of a variety of acts and suggests that so long as torture is not the intent of prosecutors' questioning, they cannot be prosecuted.

Mr Yoo included legal arguments that some interrogation methods, such as sleep deprivation and hooding detainees, are not considered torture.

"This standard permits some physical contact," the memo said. "Employing a shove or a slap as part of an interrogation would not run afoul of this standard."

'No limit'

Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Democratic-led Senate Judiciary Committee, described the memo's declassification - requested by him four months ago - as "a small step forward".

He said the document reflected "the expansive view of executive power that has been the hallmark of this administration".

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's national security project, told the Associated Press that Mr Yoo's legal argument put "literally no limit at all to the kinds of interrogation methods that the president can authorise".

The memo formed part of a debate among civilian and military leaders about the kinds of interrogation methods that could be used by US forces at overseas facilities.

Mr Bush has repeatedly said that the US does not torture prisoners.

The US military has banned the use of water-boarding - a technique which simulates drowning and has been condemned as torture by rights groups - and other harsh methods.

The CIA, which admitted for the first time in February that it had used water-boarding in the interrogation of three high-profile al-Qaeda detainees, has not prohibited use of such techniques.