Mora's campaign underscores how contrary views were often brushed aside in administration debates on the subject.
"Even if one wanted to authorize the U.S. military to conduct coercive interrogations, as was the case in Guanta'namo, how could one do so without profoundly altering its core values and character?" Mr. Mora asked the Pentagon's chief lawyer, William J. Haynes II, in a 22-page memorandum.
The Pentagon has declined to comment on specific assertions in Mr. Mora's memorandum.
"Detainee operations and interrogation policies have been scrutinized under a microscope, from all different angles," a spokesperson said. "It was found that it was not a Department of Defense policy to encourage or condone torture."
The HRF report notes that "It is difficult to assess the systemic adequacy of punishment when so few have been punished, and when the deliberations of juries and commanders are largely unknown. Nonetheless, two patterns clearly emerge and are documented in Command's Responsibility: (1) because of investigative and evidentiary failures, accountability for wrongdoing has been limited at best, and almost non-existent for command; and (2) commanders have played a key role in undermining chances for full accountability."
It adds, "In dozens of cases documented in the report, grossly inadequate reporting, investigation, and follow-through have left no one at all responsible for homicides and other unexplained deaths. Commanders have failed both to provide troops clear guidance, and to take crimes seriously by insisting on vigorous investigations. And command responsibility itself - the law that requires commanders to be held liable for the unlawful acts of their subordinates about which they knew or should have known - has been all but forgotten."
After dozens of cases of prisoner abuse over the past several years, including the deaths HRF is reporting, the Pentagon must be totally tone-deaf to think it can dismiss all these claims as "propaganda" and maintain any credibility whatever.
This is not just more spin. It is the Kabuki theater of the absurd.
"Even if one wanted to authorize the U.S. military to conduct coercive interrogations, as was the case in Guanta'namo, how could one do so without profoundly altering its core values and character?" Mr. Mora asked the Pentagon's chief lawyer, William J. Haynes II, in a 22-page memorandum.
The Pentagon has declined to comment on specific assertions in Mr. Mora's memorandum.
"Detainee operations and interrogation policies have been scrutinized under a microscope, from all different angles," a spokesperson said. "It was found that it was not a Department of Defense policy to encourage or condone torture."
It adds, "In dozens of cases documented in the report, grossly inadequate reporting, investigation, and follow-through have left no one at all responsible for homicides and other unexplained deaths. Commanders have failed both to provide troops clear guidance, and to take crimes seriously by insisting on vigorous investigations. And command responsibility itself - the law that requires commanders to be held liable for the unlawful acts of their subordinates about which they knew or should have known - has been all but forgotten."
After dozens of cases of prisoner abuse over the past several years, including the deaths HRF is reporting, the Pentagon must be totally tone-deaf to think it can dismiss all these claims as "propaganda" and maintain any credibility whatever.
This is not just more spin. It is the Kabuki theater of the absurd.
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