Pentagon Releases Memo Justifying Harsh Interrogation Tactics:

The Pentagon has released a declassified 2003 Justice Department memo that claimed the president's wartime authority trumps any international ban on torture, and concluded that the Fifth and Eighth amendments do not apply to foreign prisoners held outside the country.

The memo, released by the Pentagon, was written by Justice Department lawyer John Yoo in March 2003. He has since left the agency.

The memo was rescinded in December 2003, about nine months after Yoo sent it to top Pentagon lawyer William J. Haynes II.