AP Wire: Report: Pentagon Warned on Torture, Abuse

[PhilipShore]

AP Wire
Report: Pentagon Warned on Torture, Abuse
February 19, 2006

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/19/AR2006021900537.html

WASHINGTON -- The Navy's former general counsel warned Pentagon officials two years before the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that circumventing international agreements on torture and detainees' treatment would invite abuse, according to a published report.

Legal theories granting the president the right to authorize abuse in spite of the Geneva conventions were unlawful, dangerous and erroneous, Alberto J. Mora advised officials in a secret memo. The 22-page document was obtained by The New Yorker for a story in its Feb. 27 issue.

A message left Sunday with a Pentagon spokesman was not immediately returned.

[tecelote]

1. I thought that he was an admirable American and patriot...

"I was appalled by the whole thing," Mora told the magazine. "It was clearly abusive and it was clearly contrary to everything we were ever taught about American values."

Then I read...

Mora retired this year and now is a general counsel for Wal-Mart.

[usafguy99]

2. I'm no great fan of Wal-Mart...

But calling someone unpatriotic because they work for them is going a little over board.

Wal-Mart is a staple for many Americans and that is not going to change anytime soon - they are addicted to low prices no matter what effect it has on others.

[tecelote]

4. I apologize. I do not think he is unpatriotic.

I just posted too quickly.

I'm glad he spoke up and support him for it.

It was upsetting that he went on to fight for a company that stands for values that I do not consider American. Hiring illegal immigrants, one of the largest sexual discrimination cases in history, insufficient benefits, and there is so much more.

[EFerrari]

13. Welcome to DU, usafguy.

:hi:

[baby_bear]

5. Look at it this way, tecelote

Wal-Mart is a step up, morality-wise, from the Bush administration's injustice department.

Maybe this time next year, Mora will find a job with Home Depot, and who knows, from there he might even end up at Costco. Now that would be progress!

So, be optimistic, and thanks for the post.

b_b

[tecelote]

6. Yes, I hope you are right about ending up at Costco.

Unfortunately, Wal-Mart is a step up from Bushco.

We live in sad times when our government is so corrupt that the low end of ethics in big business looks good.

[Cocoa]

3. Mora will be demonized

another traitor emboldening the enemy.

[freefall]

7. Wal-Mart may fire him. n/t

[Lori Price CLG]

8. Report: Pentagon warned on torture, abuse (2 yrs. before Abu G. scandal)

Report: Pentagon warned on torture, abuse

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy's former general counsel warned Pentagon officials two years before the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that circumventing international agreements on torture and detainees' treatment would invite abuse, according to a published report.

Legal theories granting the president the right to authorize abuse in spite of the Geneva conventions were unlawful, dangerous and erroneous, Alberto J. Mora advised officials in a secret memo. The 22-page document was obtained by The New Yorker for a story in its Feb. 27 issue.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said Sunday she had not read the magazine story. :eyes:

<snip>

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

[wtmusic]

9. They didn't return a message about this??

Must be a mistake...

[lovuian]

10. Whoo Hoo the Navy lawyers... I noticed they are rebelling

and telling the truth...

[Pirate Smile]

11. NYT: Pentagon Lawyer Broke Ranks on Detainees

One of the Pentagon's top civilian lawyers repeatedly challenged the Bush administration's policy on the coercive interrogation of terror suspects, arguing that such practices violated the law, verged on torture and could ultimately expose senior officials to prosecution, a newly disclosed document shows.

The lawyer, Alberto J. Mora, a Republican appointee who retired last month after more than four years as general counsel of the Navy, was one of many dissenters inside the Pentagon. Senior uniformed lawyers in all the military services also objected sharply to the interrogation policy, according to internal documents declassified last year.

But Mr. Mora's campaign against what he viewed as an official policy of cruel treatment, detailed in a memorandum he wrote in July 2004 and recounted in an article in the Feb. 27 issue of The New Yorker magazine, made public yesterday, underscored again 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 Guantánamo, 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, according to the memorandum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/20/politics/20mora.html?hp&ex=1140411600&en=99ca1b431b4aa927&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[madmark]

12. anyone with a brain new tthat all that early talk about the geneva

conventions not applying to enemy combatants would lead to torture; where else could it lead?

[EFerrari]

14. The New Yorker comes through AGAIN!

:applause::applause::applause: