One of the more frustrating aspects to the Bush White House’s scandals is that, in almost every instance, they were warned about the very problem they were about to face. True to form, the Bush gang was convinced they knew better — dissent from the official line simply helped identify those who were insufficiently loyal.
In the latest in a series of examples, the Navy’s general counsel warned the Defense Department two years before the Abu Ghraib scandal that circumventing international agreements on torture and detainees’ treatment would invite abuse. He was, of course, largely ignored.
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 political appointee who retired Dec. 31 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 Guantanamo, 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.
Before Mora is dismissed as a disgruntled employee — or worse, a Democrat — it’s worth noting that we’re talking about “a loyal Republican, he was known as a supporter of President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the fight against terrorism.”
It didn’t make much of a difference. Mora kept arguing his case and asking the right questions (Mora asked Haynes, “Had we jettisoned our human rights policies?”). His concerns were — surprise, surprise — not taken seriously.
Raise your hand if you’re surprised.