Torture

Bush Admin Lawyer: Gitmo Became "Toxic Problem" For US

Zachary Roth | May 13, 2009, 11:59AM

Philip Zelikow is now being asked about the decision by President Obama to close Guantanamo.

He told the committee:

Guantanamo has become in world public opinion a toxic problem for the United States America. And so we needed to address that in our foreign policy.

Zelikow also said -- contra the fear-mongering by GOPers lately -- we routinely hold in US mainland prisons terror suspects like Ramzi Yousef who are believed to be far more dangerous than many of the detainees in Gitmo.

Philip Zelikow

Zelikow: My Alternative Torture Memo Has Been Found And Is Being Reviewed For Declassification

Zachary Roth | May 13, 2009, 11:10AM

Philip Zelikow just offered a bit of news about the memo he wrote offering an alternative view on the legality of torture, which he said the White House tried to have destroyed.

Zelikow told the Senate committee that the memo, which had not previously been found, "has been located in State Department files and is being reviewed for declassification."

He said that at the time, he thought the effort to have the memo destroyed -- which he described as "informal" -- was "improper" and ignored it.

And it sounds like we may get a look at it soon.

Philip Zelikow

Zelikow, Testifying This Morning, Calls For Independent Torture Probe

Zachary Roth | May 13, 2009, 10:06AM

As we prepare for a Senate hearing on the Bush torture program, it's worth taking a look at an interview that one of the key witnesses, Philip Zelikow, gave to Foreign Policy's Laura Rozen yesterday, which provided an advanced look at what he's likely to say.

Zelikow, a top State Department lawyer under Condoleezza Rice, recently revealed that the White House tried to destroy all copies of a memo he wrote that offered an alternative view on the legality of torture. He later said he suspected at the time that Dick Cheney had led that effort.

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Philip Zelikow

Zelikow: I Think Cheney Tried To Destroy My Torture Memo

Zachary Roth | May 6, 2009, 12:01PM

Mother Jones has advanced the story of an alleged bid by the Bushies to destroy a memo, written by a top state department lawyer, that offered an alternative view on the legality of torture.

Last month, as we noted, Philip Zelikow, a top lawyer for Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, wrote that the Bush White House "attempted to collect and destroy all copies" of the memo. But he hadn't said who at the White House he suspected of being behind that effort.

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