Washington, Oct 5, SPA -- The White House on Thursday reiterated that the United States “does not torture” after The New York Times reported on secret Justice Department memos that appeared to authorize harsh interrogation techniques against terror suspect. Spokespeople for the White House and the Justice Department said a memo written in February 2005 did not change an administration policy issued in 2004 that publicly renounced torture as “abhorrent.”But Democrats in the House of Representatives were unconvinced and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (Michigan) promised a congressional inquiry into the two Justice Department legal opinions that reportedly “explicitly authorized the use of painful and psychological tactics on terrorism suspects.”“Both the alleged content of these opinions and the fact that they have been kept secret from Congress are extremely troubling, especially in light of the department’s 2004 withdrawal of an earlier opinion similarly approving such methods,” wrote Conyers and fellow committee member Jerry Nadler (Democrat from New York) in a letter to Acting Attorney General Peter Keisler. The two Democrats also asked that Steven Bradbury, the Justice Department’s acting chief of legal counsel, “be made available for prompt committee hearings.”The New York Times report said that the 2005 legal opinion authorized the use of techniques including simulated drownings and was issued shortly after then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales took over the Justice Department. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino confirmed the existence of the 2005 classified opinion, but denied that it authorized the use of torture. “This country does not torture,” she told reporters. “It is a policy of the United States that we do not torture and we do not.”Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the 2004 opinion repudiating torture remains in effect.“Accordingly, any advice that the department would have provided in this area would rely upon, and be fully consistent with, the legal standards articulated in the December 2004 memorandum,” Roehrkasse said in a statement.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/488265