Larry Neumeister (Associated Press)
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. government Thursday to try to prove there is a close link between the White House under President George W. Bush and a program of rough interrogation techniques used against suspected terrorists.
The ACLU said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that it wanted to force the public release of all records on the subject issued by former President Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration officials.
Defendants named in the lawsuit were the CIA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and the Department of State.
On Monday, CIA Director Leon Panetta said in court papers responding to a related lawsuit that releasing documents about the agency's terror interrogations would gravely damage national security.
A Justice Department probe is under way to learn more about the CIA's destruction of 92 videotapes of detainee interrogations that took place in 2002. Officials have said a dozen of those tapes show so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, which critics call torture.
Yusill Scribner, a spokeswoman for government lawyers in Manhattan, declined to comment. A message for comment left with the Justice Department in Washington was not immediately returned.
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