JAGs objected to torture

For the first time, Judge Advocate Generals are revealing how they objected to redefining the status of "enemy combatants" as outside the Geneva Conventions. Their concerns are common sense: They were worried that abuses would occur and the public would be pissed off about it, which would lead to terrible consequences in the war on terror. If the apple breaks free of the limb, it will fall. It's predicctable.

Military Lawyers Fought Policy on Interrogations

At a Senate hearing yesterday, the judge advocate generals (JAGs) for the Army, Air Force and Marines said they expressed their concerns as the policy was being hashed out at the Pentagon in March and April 2003. Though their letters to the Defense Department's general counsel are classified, sources familiar with them said the lawyers worried that broadly defined, tough interrogation tactics would not only contravene long-standing military doctrine -- leaving too much room for interpretation by interrogators -- but also would cause public outrage if the tactics became known.

And later:

Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), ranking Democrat on the committee, asked the JAGs if they felt the tactics recently reported by investigators were consistent with Geneva Conventions prohibitions on torture. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Rives said he believed they were inconsistent. Levin also asked the generals if they would want U.S. prisoners of war treated that way.

"No, Senator, we would not," Rives said.

In an earlier post, I called for unity around thorny issues. This is one of them. These days, there is a shortage of non-political truth. The early conclusions of the JAGs are hard to dispute given all that has happened since they made their arguments. Can we come together on the suggestions of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsay O. Graham (R-S.C.), who argue:

...that perhaps Congress should legislate the definitions of enemy combatants and their official legal status, as well as the legal process for adjudicating their cases. They said the delays that have kept hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay without a single prosecution need to end.

One can only hope.