The Justice Department is letting Bush administration lawyers off the hook for condoning the use of harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks.

The investigation had brought outraged protests from former Vice President Dick Cheney and other defenders of Bush-era terrorist interrrogation methods.

John Yoo and Jay Bybee showed lousy judgment, but not professional misconduct by writing memos authorizing techniques such as waterboarding, the Justice Department report concludes, sources said.

After the memos were revealed, civil liberties groups and other critics argued that the Bush lawyers were advocating the illegal use of torture and called for Yoo and Bybee to be punished.

Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility originally determined that Yoo and Bybee should be disciplined for writing the memos.

But David Margolis, an associate deputy attorney general, disagreed, clearing Yoo and Bybee of any wrongdoing.

"This decision should not be viewed as an endorsement of the legal work" performed by the pair, Margolis wrote.