Former Attorney General John Ashcroft told lawmakers Thursday that he fully embraced pushing forward...

1. Ashcroft Defends DOJ's Post-9/11 Policies
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft told lawmakers Thursday that he fully embraced pushing
forward an aggressive counterterrorism policy during his tenure, but that overturning some initial
Justice Department legal guidance was necessary after later review.
"The administration's overriding goal, which I fully embraced, was to do everything within its power
and within the limits of the law -- I repeat within the limits of the law -- to keep this country safe
from terrorist attack," he told the House Judiciary Committee.
Ashcroft said that's why he initially approved now-controversial legal guidance on interrogation put
forth by former DOJ Office of Legal Counsel official John Yoo in an August 2002 memo.
"I was made aware that a legal opinion relating to interrogation of al Qaeda detainees was being
prepared by OLC [the Office of Legal Counsel]," Ashcroft said. "I was briefed on the general
contours of the opinion's substantive analysis and on its conclusions, and that approved of its
issuance."
Ashcroft testified that later, once DOJ's Jack Goldsmith became the head of the office of Legal
Counsel, Justice Department officials expressed concerns to him about alleged flaws in Yoo's
analysis and how closely Yoo was aligned with the White House.
"It became apparent in the further examination of those opinions, when made in another timeframe,
that there were matters of concerns that were brought to my opinion. It was not a hard decision for
me," Ashcroft said.
"Any time the department can improve what we can, we owe it to the president and we owe it to
ourselves," he added.
Ashcroft fully defended the tactics he authorized and supported in the weeks and years after the
9/11 attacks, telling the committee that he didn't support torture because it is illegal and "the
outcome of a product of torture doesn't justify it."
Ashcroft was asked why Yoo was passed over to head the Office of Legal Counsel. Noting his close
ties to the White House, including then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, Ashcroft
acknowledged "individuals in the department expressed concern
http://community.openscholar.harvard.edu/people/cr4imin2al about maintaining the independence of
the department."
But Ashcroft did defend harsh interrogation methods, saying, "I know specific attacks were
disrupted."
"The value of the interrogation was for prevention," he said. "The exclusive evidence of prevention
was not to bring evidence to a court but to prevent harm to the country."
At times, Ashcroft was evasive, and he claimed executive privilege numerous times. Asked when he
became aware of use of the simulated drowning tactic called waterboarding, Ashcroft said, "I'm not

2. aware of when I learned that information."
Asked by Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., if he discussed Yoo's memo with President Bush, Ashcroft
responded sharply, "I don't know, and if I did I wouldn't tell you."
Sanchez continued to press Ashcroft about meetings at the White House to which Ashcroft
responded in rote fashion, "My communications with the president are privileged communications."
Ashcroft was asked by several members about an encounter in March 2004, when then-Deputy
Attorney General James Comey and FBI Director http://law.tamu.edu/ Robert Mueller scrambled to
Ashcroft's hospital bedside to thwart a visit by Gonzales, who was seeking authorization for a
controversial terror surveillance program. Ashcroft was at the time recovering in the intensive care
unit at a Washington hospital following surgery.
http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=5396451