It can best be described as "Executive Privilege Lite": all of the privileges to resist certain encroachments by Congress, without actually invoking executive privilege as an actual reason for the unwillingness to cooperate. The attorney general's actions belie the words of President Bush, who just last month committed on Arab Television to prosecute the perpetrators of Abu Ghraib.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17110

"It's important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy everything is not perfect," the president said. "Mistakes are made. But in a democracy as well, those mistakes will be investigated and the people brought to justice."

Following the hearing with the attorney general, Sen. Leahy said: "If government agencies have rationalized the use of torture, that would seem to go to the heart of what we are investigating. It is inexcusable to read about such memos in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and New York Times and then to have them denied to the Senate by the Executive Branch.

The U.S. Constitution grants Congress the right to compel agencies to cooperate for the purposes of oversight. Surely, the attorney general is aware of this provision.

In a single hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the attorney general ignored the Constitution, further damaged America's moral authority, and placed U.S. soldiers in greater danger.