US 'not bound by torture laws'
BBC News
Monday, 7 June, 2004
A Pentagon report last year argued that President George W Bush was not bound by laws banning the use of torture, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The document also argued that torturers acting under presidential orders could not be prosecuted, the paper said.
The report was written by military and civilian lawyers for US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
It came after staff at Guantanamo Bay complained normal interrogation tactics were not eliciting enough information.
The document outlined why restrictions on torture under US laws and international treaties might be overcome by considerations for national security or legal technicalities, the newspaper reported.