UN Moves On Iraq, Cheney Stonewalls Bush Approving Torture

Security Council Endorses Transfer of Iraq Sovereignty

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today to approve a new resolution that endorses a U.S. transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi interim government and authorizes foreign troops to provide security for at least a year with Iraqi consent.

The resolution passed 15-0 after the United States made several last-minute concessions to incorporate demands by France and Russia, which had insisted on giving the Iraqi government more explicit authority to ensure it exercised genuine sovereignty after the scheduled transfer of political power on June 30.

Ashcroft Refuses to Release Torture Memo

Angry Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee called on Ashcroft to provide the document, saying leaked portions that have appeared in news reports suggest the Bush administration is reinterpreting U.S. law and the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the memo on interrogation techniques permissible for the CIA to use "appears to be an effort to redefine torture and narrow prohibitions against it." The draft document was prepared by the Justice Department's office of legal policy for White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales.

"If such a memo existed, do you believe that is good law? Do you think that torture might be justified?" demanded Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.).

"I condemn torture," Ashcroft responded. "I don't think it's productive, let alone justified."

Policy memo endorses torture for terror suspects

A group of lawyers in the U.S. administration argued in a paper last year that President George W. Bush has supreme authority over the questioning of terrorist suspects, and can legally order interrogators to torture or commit other crimes against them.