Torture hearings, Part 3

By GottaLaff

Issa: Disseminate info more broadly, so we wouldn't have a few members on each side? Pelosi might not have been the one to determine what torture was... so should the House begin to expand the information pool? Inform more members?

Ashcroft: It's got its pluses and minuses. With classified matters, you'd elevate the risks of disclosure. Methods of interrogation: People are trained to resist, if the methods are known. The easiest job would be to be a spy in Washington, info goes all over the place. The press finds out during breaks.

Issa: If we were to hold our own people accountable, criminal prosecution, submit to polygraphs, discipline ourselves, then should we be treated at peer level?

Ashcroft: No reason that we wouldn't want to have more involved, gives you more strength, more successful, if it can be done without risks. Well worth considering.

Hank Johnson: You are a formidable witness.

Ashcroft: This is gonna be a tough question...

Hank: You were Bush's senior law enforcement officer. You supervised the FBI. You also oversaw terrorism prosecutions nationwide... So DoJ would have to have a voice in the military tribunal process to try terrorism suspects... A heated meeting in 2001 between you and Cheney about military tribunals... You were upset because Yoo, your subordinate, wanted to keep DoJ out of trying terrorists... true?
Ashcroft: I don't recollect.

Hank: Yoo dealt with Cheney w/o your knowledge about his opinions on this. Right?

Ashcroft: I'm aware of those reports. People came to me, expressed concerns.

Hank: History will judge you differently than it will judge your successor and I appreciate it.