Spencer Ackerman asks:
Take all the shelving out of a typical filing cabinet. (My own office cabinet happens to be slightly smaller than the [4 feet high, 4 feet long and 20 inches wide] cell described here.) Now lock yourself in it for two days. You may notice you can neither stand up straight nor lie down, and crouching gets really uncomfortable extremely fast. Remember that as an Iraqi detainee, the Geneva Conventions apply to you. Now ask yourself: Why would Formica consider such treatment "reasonable" for two days? And if someone put an American soldier in such conditions for two days – or authorized doing so – what should happen to that person?
I haven’t discussed the Formica Report because, even by the standards of the several previous reports, this one was such an exercize in transparent denial and avoidance it didn’t merit discussion. But General Formica did what Rumsfeld wanted: no one was held responsible even for the abuses Formica did concede. That’s the Bush principle. Torture, pretend to investigate, and exculpate. Rinse the blood off your hands and repeat.