Whitehouse evades interrogation policy questions

President Bush evaded the issue of detainee abuse in his year-end press conference yesterday. Whitehouse Spokesman Scott McClellan, the artful dodger, also managed to sound authoritative while saying nothing today at a press briefing.

Q What I'm asking about in this particular case, you had the FBI expressing specific concerns from people who had been down there and seen what they considered abusive behavior. Are you saying, in that particular instance, those particular concerns were expressed to the White House?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, in terms of specifics, this information is becoming public so we're becoming aware of more information as it becomes public, as you are. I think that these are matters that are typically addressed with the Department of Defense, and the Department of Defense is the one who takes action to look into those matters. So I can't say that specific matters and memos, internal memos at the FBI, I can't say that we were necessarily aware of those. I'd have to check on individual matters.[...]

Q Well, would you just state for the record whether the President had ever signed any sort of order dealing with interrogation?

MR. McCLELLAN: There is no executive order relating to interrogation techniques. When it comes to military detainees and interrogation methods, those are determinations made by the Department of Defense.