Ashcroft refuses to hand over torture memo:

'US Attorney-General John Ashcroft has refused to give politicians copies of a Justice Department memo that allegedly advised the White House that torture during war on terrorism interrogations could be justified...

Mr Ashcroft refused to provide the memo to politicians on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"You may be in contempt of Congress," warned Democratic Senator Joseph Biden.

"You are not allowed not to answer our questions," he said...

The Justice Department memo, addressed to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez, reportedly said torturing a suspect in captivity "may be justified" if it would "prevent further attacks on the United States by the Al Qaeda terrorist network".

Arguments about "necessity and self-defence could provide justifications that would eliminate any criminal liability", the 50-page document signed by Assistant Attorney-General Jay Baybee and obtained by The Washington Post said.

The memo served as basis for a March 2003 classified report prepared for Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, after commanders at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, complained that they were not getting enough information from prisoners.

The Wall Street Journal on Monday revealed the 2003 report.

The August 2002 memo, The Washington Post wrote, argued that inflicting moderate or fleeting pain did not necessarily constitute torture, which "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death".

The newspaper said US Army manuals on interrogations were more restrictive, banning such practices as pain induced by chemicals or bondage; forcing an individual to stand, sit or kneel in abnormal positions for prolonged periods of time; and food deprivation.'

So here's the chain of cause and effect: Ashcroft, presumably at the request of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld, provides legal advice through Gonzales to Bush, who personally approves abandoning the Geneva Convention. Rumsfeld then lets the CIA agents in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib know they can do what they like as long as it's part of the (ahem!) "war on... " (you know).