Washington ? Stung by the perception that the Bush administration may have endorsed torture as an interrogation technique, White House officials declassified documents Tuesday that show President Bush ordered in early 2002 that al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners be treated “humanely” even though he said they weren’t protected by the Geneva Conventions.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department disavowed its controversial advice to Bush that suggested terrorists could be tortured if necessary. It said its lawyers were “scrubbing” all of its legal guidance on interrogation methods.

And the Department of Defense revealed that Secretary Donald Rumsfeld initially approved interrogation techniques that included exploiting detainees’ phobias, such as the fear of dogs, but replaced them with less aggressive ones in April 2003.

Tuesday’s developments come as the administration is under increasing pressure to explain how abuses occurred in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and in Afghanistan, even as the president insists he never condoned torture or abuse.

But the unusual release of sensitive communications from the White House, the Defense Department and the Justice Department didn’t quell growing partisan rancor on Capitol Hill.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats who last week tried to subpoena 23 documents from the White House and Justice Department were quick to point out that 21 were missing from the more than 250 pages released Tuesday.

The documents also didn’t include anything about interrogation policies in Iraq or at Abu Ghraib, and outlined administration policy only with respect to detainees captured in Afghanistan and those held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

The White House released “a small subset of the documents that offers glimpses into the genesis of this scandal,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. “All should have been provided earlier to Congress, and much more remains held back and hidden away from public view.”

Still, administration officials insisted Tuesday that Bush’s order, in early 2002, was the foundation for all of its interrogation policies in the war on terror. They stressed that his approach was restrained in the face of a threat that poses unusual challenges.

“This is a different kind of enemy that targets innocent civilians, hides in shadows and doesn’t cherish life,” said White House counsel Alberto Gonzales. “The president said he will protect U.S. citizens, but he also said he will do it consistent with our values.”

Bush’s memo embraced the Justice Department’s opinion that al-Qaida and Taliban fighters aren’t legally entitled to Geneva protections, since they do not observe conventional rules of warfare, but he ordered that they be treated in accordance with international law anyway.