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That brings us to the second key torture memo. After the news of widespread torture at Abu Ghraib broke, Comey, to his credit, supported the withdrawal of the Bybee I legal memo.
#JAMES COMEY HOW TO#
The first memo-Bybee I-laid out the Bush administration's legal theory for how to effectively ignore the Anti-Torture Act, while the second memo-Bybee II-described waterboarding and other torture tactics in horrific detail and approved their use on a suspect.Ĭomey had no role in writing Bybee II (he didn't start as deputy attorney general until more than a year later), but he made sure it was still "good" law. There were two memos issued on August 1, 2002, that kicked off the torture program.
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The first key torture memo for the president and senators to read is the document now known as Bybee II (it was the second torture memo signed by Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee). But the president is reportedly poised to sign off on the nomination of the former number two official in the Bush Justice Department, who twice signed off on torture memos okaying waterboarding, wall slams, and other forms of torture. And on his second full day in office, President Obama invalidated the torture memos and banned the use of waterboarding and other torture tactics. There is a mountain of other torture documents from the Bush era, but we only need to read three of them.ĭuring the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee turned away several nominees for top government jobs because of their roles in approving waterboarding and other torture. But this time, the stakes involve a ten-year appointment to head the FBI.īefore President Obama nominates-and certainly before the Senate Judiciary Committee confirms-James Comey to be FBI director, the president and the senators should read three torture memos that are central to understanding who Comey is. Waterboarding and other torture tactics may once again take center stage in yet another nomination fight.