Memorandum Reveals Alleged Sanction For Purported Acts of
Torture by U.S. Military
By: Tommy Elder, Jr.
Some
legal experts contend that the opinions provided by Bush
Administration lawyers gave license to the allege abuse of prisoners by the United States Military at the various Detention Facilities they operated. David Johnston and Scott Shane of the New York Times report that high level Bush Administration officials appear to sanction what critics call torture by the United States Military at
abu Ghraib Prison and its Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Written by John C. Yoo from the Office of Legal Counsel, the unit of the administration that interprets the
law- it advised that ``inflicting pain would not be considered torture unless it caused `death, organ failure or permanent damage.`
Further, the
Memorandum asserted that ``the president`s war powers could trump the law against torture, which it said could not constitutionally be enforced if it interfered with the commander in chief`s orders.``
In reacting to the memorandum- Scott L. Silliman, head of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University and a former Air Force lawyer, stated that he doubted that the 2003 memorandum led to torture by the United States` Military. He noted, however, that `The memo helped to build a culture that, in the absence of leadership from the highest ranks of the Pentagon allowed the abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere.`
Former White House and Justice Department lawyer David B. Rivkin asserts that- ``the wording of the 2003 opinion might be `overly broad but the legal advisers like Mr. Yoo set out only what could be done legally, not what should be done.``
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