More invaluable analysis of the Schmidt report on Gitmo by Marty Lederman can be read here. He calls the post “Defining Humane Down.” The Schmidt report calls the treatment of detainees “abusive and degrading” but also “humane.” That’s the Orwellian world George W. Bush has introduced us to. What we clearly need is a legislative overhaul of interrogation, clearly defining what is and is not authorized, in the clear light of day. What we have developed under this administration is something quite radical. Money quote:
More disturbing still is the Report’s repeated assertions that the techniques in question … are not only “humane,” but also are authorized by Army Field Manual 34-52. Field Manual 34-52 has, since the 1960’s, defined the interrogation techniques that are acceptable within the military even for POWs who are entitled to the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
Until now, the debate over the Bush Administration’s interrogation policies has been about whether and why it was permissible for the Administration to go far beyond Manual 34-52 in its coercive treatment of detainees. But if, as the Schmidt Report concludes, the techniques used at GTMO are authorized by the Army Field Manual itself, it then follows that the military may use those techniques on any detainees, including POWs, anywhere in the world, in any conflict. Accordingly, by virtue of the Schmidt Report itself, this is not simply about al-Qahtani and other high-level detainees, nor about what is permissible at Guantanamo. Rather, it presages a radical transformation of what is deemed acceptable, lawful treatment of U.S. military detainees across the board – an erosion of the Geneva-based standards that have been the basis for the military’s training and practices for the last few decades.
The Bush administration is turning the military into something previous generations would not have recognized: licensed to abuse prisoners of war.
The Dish 