Around the World: United States
Interrogations backed up
Recent letters from the Justice Department to Congress state that US intelligence agents working to prevent terror attacks can legally use interrogation techniques banned by international law, The New York Times reported yesterday.
President George W. Bush issued an executive order last summer in which he said the CIA would observe international regulations regarding detainee treatment. The letters indicate the Bush administration now contends these boundaries may be stretched in some interrogations.
A March 5 letter from the Justice Department to Congress makes clear the Bush administration has not defined which interrogation methods might violate the Geneva Convention's bans on "outrages upon personal dignity," the Times said.
(China Daily 04/28/2008 page6)
