On Tuesday, June 17, the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services had a hearing in regards to torture and harsh interrogation techniques. It has been revealed that late 2002, some methods of interrogation have been objected to. This was in formal writing from JAG lawyers from all four major branches of the United States Military.
That would mean, military lawyers from the United States Army, the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corp, and the United States Air Force have submitted written objections to some of the interrogation techniques. This was revealed by Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.
Today, a former military lawyer had given testimony. The testimony given was that the objections given by legal experts were brushed off by a top Pentagon legal adviser. This was when rules of interrogation were being written. The lawyers from all four branches formally objected to the techniques before they were approved.
Retired Admiral Jane G. Dalton of the United States Navy was the former legal adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dalton was the one that gave the testimony. Dalton said that the top legal adviser, William J. Haynes said he did not want this to continue and squashed all objections.
This brought fire from Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. She immediately wanted answers from Haynes. So far, a clear answer was not given from Haynes. However, Haynes did deny he was supporting and advocating the use of torture techniques.
Haynes said that nobody had advocated torture at all. He said: “I don’t advocate torture. Effective interrogation is what we are after. My job in this exercise is to talk about what does the law permit, and what does it prohibit.”
It did not seem that McCaskill was a happy camper at all.
Levin also added that Haynes suggested to then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that it was justified to resort to much harsher methods of interrogating prisoners.
A memo signed by Rumsfeld in 2002 was also cited by Levin.
“How did it come about that American military personnel stripped detainees naked, put them in stress positions, used dogs to scare them, put leashes around their necks to humiliate them, hooded them, deprived them of sleep and blasted music at them?” Levin asked. This was the opening statement at the hearing.
Levin said that Rumsfeld had also unleashed a virus.
“When Secretary Rumsfeld approved the use of abusive techniques against detainees, he unleashed a virus which ultimately infected interrogation operations conducted by the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Levin added.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina also gave his opening statement. He said that the country’s best interests were at the heart were placed first. But, he said that the legal reasoning was strange.
On another interesting note, a former Pentagon official said that Rumsfeld was envious of the other agencies. In short, Rumsfeld wanted to outdo the law enforcement agencies.
With these hearings, one should be prepared for these to make its way to the US Presidential Elections between presumed Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and presumed GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona.
On a side note, McCain is a high ranking member of this committee. Former Democratic hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton of New York also serves as a member of the committee.