Sunday, December 14, 2008

Senate Report on Legal Review of Detainee Policies has Judge Advocates Front and Center

The Washington Post and others have links to the Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry Into the Treatment of Detainees in US Custody, story here and report here. The report features judge advocates in many portions of the report, in both a positive and a slightly negative light. There are several mentions of service judge advocate reviews of requests for permission to use "aggressive" techniques on detainees. Generally the judge advocate memos seemed to have raised "serious concerns regarding the legality of many of the techniques." The advisory opinions also called for more review of the legal impact of the "aggressive" techniques before implementation due to potential UCMJ violations raised by use of the tactics by service members.

Then CAPT Jane Dalton, JAGC, USN, legal advisor to the CJCS, got at least union rate for her speaking part in the report. The Report's commentary on her actions is a mixed bag, most positive but they take a jab at her in the Conclusions. The report shows no signs of a dissenting opinion from Republicans, so I'll assume it is bi-partisan. Our loyal readers have seen similar reports of judge advocate stances on similar issues, see here and here (comments).

Disclaimer: I don't speak for the Dept of the Navy, and never did speak for DON, on any of the issues surrounding detainee interrogation tactics.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Conclusion 19 is interesting in the context that it probably would have afforded some good defense arguments in the Soldiers who were court-martialed over Abu Ghraib.

Anonymous said...

Since the Abu Ghraib accused were not interrogators I do not see any arguments they could have used.