Monday, April 20, 2009

Memo Release: Obama Chided

From John Hendren at ABC News:

The White House found itself facing a barrage of criticism Sunday over releasing the so-called torture memos.

Zubaydah Mohammed
(ABC News Photo Illustration)

Republican lawmakers took to the airwaves on the Sunday talk shows to argue the president's release of Justice Department memos detailing the Bush administration's internal discussions of harsh interrogation tactics has made America less safe.

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, told ABC News, "The release of these memos is dangerous."

Former GOP Rep. Dick Armey, R-Texas, speaking on Fox News, called it "grotesquely irresponsible."

It wasn't just the usual suspects opposing President Obama's disclosure of Justice Department memos about harsh interrogations. Four former CIA directors said it could make it harder for intelligence agents to battle terrorists in the future.

"You will have agency officers stepping back from the kinds of things that the nation expects them to do," former CIA director Gen. Mike Hayden told Fox News.

Hayden said fully half the information the government has about al Qaeda came from these interrogations.

Even the president's current CIA director, Leon Panetta, opposed releasing the memos.

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