Vice President of Torture, The Sequel
05 June 2006 7:13 am by Taylor Marsh
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| TAKE TWO! |
Deadeye just loves DoD Directive 2310. He must have been involved in the Inquisition
in a prior life.
These guys just don't learn. You'd think they'd get it the first time around,
but noooo.
It's the set up for Abu Ghraib II, with the Pentagon and
State doing battle all over again. However, this time, we have Abu Ghraib hovering
over the debate. The target of Rummy's ire couldn't be more obvious. He's getting a lot of help from the big guy. Not Bush, are you kidding? Darth, the provider of the dungeon.
If Rummy and Deadeye get away with recrafting the Army Field Manual of interrogation
to exclude what McCain and others fought so hard to put back in, we're setting
ourselves and the troops up for even more bad things to come.
The JAGs are screaming bloody murder about sticking with Geneva, but Rummy
is afraid he'll look like a pussy if he does. JAG lost, but they haven't given
up entirely, though this battle, for now, goes to the Pentagon, who are fighting hard to keep Article 3 out of the new Field Manual. Seems Deadeye
and Rummy have this thing about “cruel and degrading” treatment.
The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of
the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans “humiliating and degrading
treatment,” according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that
would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence
to international human rights standards.The decision could culminate a lengthy debate within the Defense Department
but will not become final until the Pentagon makes new guidelines public,
a step that has been delayed. However, the State Department fiercely opposes
the military's decision to exclude Geneva Convention protections and has been
pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider, the Defense Department
officials acknowledged.(snip)
Among the directives being rewritten following Bush's 2002 order is one governing
U.S. detention operations. Military lawyers and other defense officials wanted
the redrawn version of the document known as DoD Directive 2310, to again
embrace Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention.That provision — known as a “common” article because it is
part of each of the four Geneva pacts approved in 1949 — bans torture
and cruel treatment. Unlike other Geneva provisions, Article 3 covers all
detainees — whether they are held as unlawful combatants or traditional
prisoners of war. The protections for detainees in Article 3 go beyond the
McCain amendment by specifically prohibiting humiliation, treatment that falls
short of cruelty or torture.The move to restore U.S. adherence to Article 3 was opposed by officials
from Vice President Dick Cheney's office and by the Pentagon's intelligence
arm, government sources said. David S. Addington, Cheney's chief of staff,
and Stephen A. Cambone, Defense undersecretary for intelligence, said it would
restrict the United States' ability to question detainees. …
It really goes to show you just how gullible Senator John McCain is. He trusted
Bush in a photo op to “comply with the principles, spirit and intent”
of the Geneva Conventions. It evidently didn't dawn on McCain that presidential
signing statements would get around their agreement. Or that Rummy and Deadeye
would make his amendment history by rewriting the Army Field Manual. McCain
mounted a fierce battle before. It looks like he's going to have to do it again.
