A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT 
by Meg White

On Thursday, former Attorney General John Ashcroft finished off the House Judiciary Committee's five-hearing investigation into the Bush Administration's alleged advocacy for the use of torture against detainees.

Though he initially expressed a willingness to work with the committee, Ashcroft relied heavily on attorney-client privilege to refuse to answer questions from Congressmen.

"My communications with the president are privileged communications," Ashcroft said repeatedly.

In fact, he reiterated this answer or similar statements about one dozen times in questioning from Rep. Linda Sanchez [1] (D-CA) alone.

Some Congressmen were visibly frustrated.  This last hearing was the first to be held in the full committee, chaired by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI).  In previous hearings on this topic in the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, subcommittee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY) may have felt freer to add time to the five-minute window Congressmen get to ask questions of witnesses. 

This was not the case in full committee today.  When Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) was told his time was up after asking only two questions, he turned to the chairman and asked, "Really?"

"Yes, really," Conyers answered, just before calling the hearing to a close.

After the hearing, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) vented his frustration with the hearing in a statement:

"During my questioning of Mr. Ashcroft, he refused to answer my repeated direct questions about the so-called ‘principals meetings' he took part in with Vice President Cheney, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Alberto Gonzales where these key officials reportedly approved detailed interrogations against specific prisoners that included torture techniques, including waterboarding. Despite the fact that much of this information is in the public record, Mr. Ashcroft stubbornly refused to answer my legitimate questions, and instead decide[d] to ‘keep faith' with the Bush Administration and keep secrets from the American people and the Congress of the United States."

Ashcroft did not see his answers as evasive, but rather the questioning as invasive.  He told Wexler during questioning that he was disappointed in the fact that some confidential White House meetings had become public knowledge:

"This town leaks like a sieve.  I think the easiest job in the world would be to be a spy against America."

Full video coverage of the hearing is available online at C-SPAN.com [2].

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

Technorati Tags: Alerts [8] torture [9] ashcroft [10] judiciary [11] congress [12] [13]