Pentagon denies Wolfowitz approved Guantanamo interrogation tactics

"To make any suggestion that Paul Wolfowitz was involved in approving individual interrogation plans is simply wrong," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

Reference was made to Wolfowitz in an exchange of email between FBI officials in May, 2004 over agents' concerns about aggressive interrogation tactics used by military interrogators on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In one email, an FBI official whose name was blacked out suggested talking to the bureau's Behavioral Assessment Unit about what he indicated were two specific examples of abuse.

In a reply the following day, a second unidentified FBI official cautioned that there was a distinction between "allegations of abuse and the use of techniques which fall outside of FBI/DOJ ( Department of Justice) training and policy."

"As it relates to (redacted) and (redacted) the techniques employed against them in the interrogation process were, based on numerous inquiries I made, in addition to my personal review of the DoD interrogation plans, approved by the Deputy Secretary of Defense."

Wolfowitz, who now heads the World Bank, was deputy secretary of defense at the time.

"This story is old and fictional, created by anonymous people with no real knowledge of his role," said Kevin Kellems, a spokesman for Wolfowitz.

The reference to Wolfowitz in connection with Guantanamo interrogation techniques was believed to be a first, however.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is known to have approved a set of aggressive interrogation techniques in December 2002.

They were rescinded in January 2003 after military lawyers raised concerns about them. A scaled down set of techniques whose use required special approval later replaced them.

Whitman said that as deputy secretary of defense, Wolfowitz was aware of the issue and would have taken part in high-level discussions about it, but did not approve interrogation techniques.

"The deputy secretary of defense is not in the business of approving interrogation plans," Whitman said.

"We have policies and procedures that outline or provide guidelines, or the secretary provides guidelines at the request of the JTF commander through the Southcom commander with respect to interrogation techniques," he said.

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