Free Republic

Treating terrorists with kid gloves won't protect American soldiers. It was a when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife moment. Attorney General John Ashcroft went before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and declared, "This Administration rejects torture." Given the circumstances, it's hard to blame Mr. Ashcroft for being so defensive. But it sure would be helpful if someone in the Administration would take the initiative to challenge this latest Beltway uproar. At the very least, officials might muster some outrage over Democratic and media implications that U.S. officials have been in the business of justifying the use of torture.

    Report: Justice Dept. Memo Offers Basis for TortureTue Jun 8, 2004 12:23 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department offered justification for the use of torture against al Qaeda detainees in an August 2002 memo to the White House, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The memo said if a government employee were to torture a suspect in captivity, "he would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al Qaeda terrorist network," the newspaper reported. The memo also said that arguments centering on "necessity and self-defense could...

After milking the Abu Ghraib story for weeks, and having gotten the maximum possible mileage out of it, some in the media are turning to Guantanamo as the next front in the ongoing anti-Iraq, anti-WOT coverage. Some recent articles have started to highlight this prison, and the media is trying to create another scandal. The BBC and other European outlets have already started an intense propaganda campaign to portray Guantanamo, as an example of the lawless and arrogant nature of President Bush's policies. According to The Drudge Report, the Red Cross is poised to release a report on conditions in...