pentagon studied how to sidestep US and int'l laws banning torture
there was a scathing editorial in london's financial times today folliwng a draft report from capitol hill lawyers prepared for military commanders overseeing guantanamo.the ft says the report «shows the pentagon putting its best legal minds to work on how to sidestep the US as well as international laws banning torture. this makes it easier to see how the climate was created back in washington in which torture of iraqi prisoners at abu ghraib could take place».
the paper continues: «it's more shocking than the acts comitted by a few psychopaths among america's military jailers; such people exist in every army. what is rarer is encouragement from on high».
the ft concludes that the pentagon panel also managed to sweep aside domestic law. to get round legislation against torture by us citizens abroad it treats guantanamo as part of the us. but for the purpose of denying detainees access to us courts, the ft says, it counts guantanamo as abroad.
reported by mark reed - bbc world update via npr.
