TORTURE MEMO EXCERPTS FROM THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL OF THE GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION John Yoo and Jay Bybee, lawyers in advisory role

United Nations Convention Against Torture, 1984/5  torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession  No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture

2002, Jay Bybee memo to Alberto Gonzales (Counsel to the President) For an act to constitute torture, it must “inflict pain that is difficult to endure. Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death. For purely mental pain or suffering to amount to torture,... it must result in significant psychological harm of significant duration, e.g., lasting for months or even years.”

Semantics versus Ethics  Severe pain and suffering must be inflicted with specific intent [in order for an act to constitute torture]  If an individual [accused of committing torture] acted “knowing that severe pain or suffering was reasonably likely to result from his actions, but no more, he would have acted only with general intent.”  Thus if an individual “knows that severe pain will result from his actions, if causing such harm is not his objective, he lacks the requisite specific intent” that makes him guilty of torture  Therefore, a person “is guilty of torture only if he acts with the express purpose of inflicting severe pain or suffering on a person within his custody or physical control.” { mem.pdf}