Wanted to do the right thing:

January 12, 2009 - US Army Reserve JAG Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, and former prosecution lawyer against Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad, offers his “declaration in support of Mohammed Jawad’s petition for habeas corpus.” At paragraph 29 Vandeveld states: “[…] The chaotic state of the evidence and the absence of any systematic, reliable method of preserving and cataloguing evidence, all of which have plagued the Tribunals and Commissions since their inception in 2002 and 2006, make it impossible for anyone involved (the prosecutors) or caught up (the detainees) in the Commissions to harbor even the remotest hope that justice is an achievable goal.” Vandeveld’s conclusion: “I personally do not believe there is any lawful basis for continuing to detain Mr. Jawad. There is no reliable evidence of any voluntary involvement on Jawad’s part with any terrorist groups.” [26] See also his essay in the Washington Post, 1/18/09 [27]

Colonel Stuart Couch wanted to do the right thing:

May 2004 - Colonel Stuart Couch determines that Mohamedou Slahi's treatment under interrogation has been "morally repugnant" and refuses to file charges in the case. [See also August 13, 2003 and Early October 2003] [16]

Nineteen former Office of Legal Counsel Attorneys tried to do the right thing:

December 21, 2004 - Nineteen former Office of Legal Counsel Attorneys write “Principles to Guide the Office of Legal Counsel” describing the history and function of this Department of Justice division. See text at [29]

Alberto J. Mora, the general counsel of the United States Navy wanted to do the right thing:

July 7, 2004 - Alberto J. Mora, the general counsel of the United States Navy, writes 22 page memo to Vice Admiral Albert Church, who led a Pentagon investigation into abuses at the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, showing that in 2003 Mora tried to halt what he saw as a disastrous and unlawful policy of authorizing cruelty toward terror suspects. It reveals that Mora’s criticisms of Administration policy were unequivocal, wide-ranging, and persistent…He argued that a refusal to outlaw cruelty toward U.S.-held terrorist suspects was an implicit invitation to abuse. Mora also challenged the legal framework that the Bush Administration has constructed to justify an expansion of executive power, in matters ranging from interrogations to wiretapping. He described as “unlawful,” “dangerous,” and “erroneous” novel legal theories granting the President the right to authorize abuse. Mora warned that these precepts could leave U.S. personnel open to criminal prosecution. (O)

March 3, 2004 - General Taguba files the AbuGhraib Abuse Investigation Report. (Q) It can be read here. The final report is dated July, 7, 2004. General Taguba presents his secret findings to his commanding officer, the commander of coalition land forces Lt. General David McKiernan. The report notes that "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees." [16] “[…] the horrific abuses suffered by the detainees at Abu Ghraib (BCCF) were wanton acts of select soldiers in an unsupervised and dangerous setting. There was a complex interplay of many psychological factors and command insufficiencies[…] during the period August 2003 to February 2004.” [19]

January 26, 2002 - “[Powell] sought an immediate meeting with the president. The proposed anti-Geneva Convention declaration, he warned, "will reverse over a century of U.S. policy and practice" and have "a high cost in terms of negative international reaction." (RR)[16]

Summer 2002 - The FBI decides that it will not participate in joint interrogations of detainees with other agencies in which techniques not allowed by the FBI were used. The FBI issued formal guidance about detainee treatment to its agents in May 2004. [15]

May 2004 - “[…] an F.B.I. memo entitled “Detainee Interviews (Abusive Interrogation Issues)” noted the [FBI] Bureau’s “concerns” and “objections” to “sere techniques to interrogate prisoners.” For details, see [9] FBIissues Detainee Policy [15]

January 13, 2004 - a military policeman named Joseph Darby gave the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (C.I.D.) a CD full of images of abuse. Two days later, General Craddock and Vice-Admiral Timothy Keating, the director of the Joint Staff of the J.C.S., were e-mailed a summary of the abuses depicted on the CD. (Q)

September 2008 - “in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Colonel Steven Kleinman, an Air Force Reservist who was a member of the interrogation support team sent by JPRA to the Special Mission Unit Task Force in Iraq [see September 2003], described abusive interrogations he witnessed, and intervened to stop, during that trip. [Details in report] (DD)

March 8, 2006 - the State Department releases its Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices [about 2005]. It condemns Belarus, Burma, China, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Nepal, North Korea, Philippines, Russia, Sudan, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Zimbabwe for holding individuals in incommunicado detention and for engaging in “disappearances.” [See April 2006-John Negroponte…] [23]

April 2006 - John Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence, acknowledged to media sources that the Central Intelligence Agency continues to hold approximately three dozen al-Qaeda suspects in secret overseas prisons. He maintained that the United States is likely to keep them in captivity for as long as the “war on terror continues.” Human Rights Watch says these detainees have been “effectively ‘disappeared’”. [See March 8, 2006][23]

Sorry for hijacking the thread. I'll stop now.

I wish, but I'm too angry to be a good one.

I just saw the announcement, and will admit to being taken totally by surprise! I am grateful for the entertaining and informative conversations here and deeply honored by your recognition. I’m happy to have been able to add some grist for the mill, but couldn’t have done any of it without you.

Thank you!

I wish I knew how to make sure others see my note...

...and as for WOG checking...I'll have to redouble my efforts. ;-)

Good Night, all.