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Team torture.

April 23, 2008, 2:02 pm
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The New Republic recently posted a Q&A with Philippe Sands, the author of an important new book on the role of lawyers in the Bush administration’s so-called coercive interrogation techniques. A snippet:

One of the lawyers you focus on is Doug Feith–though he makes clear in his interview with you that he was not functioning in the Pentagon as a lawyer. The exchange you record with Feith suggests he was distant from the decision process, and that he had a high opinion of and supported application of the Geneva Conventions. I remember speaking with military lawyers in 2003 repeatedly and hearing of their concern about Feith: his heavy hand, his pressure tactics, and his contempt for the Geneva Conventions and anyone who attempted to stand up for their application. What’s your assessment of Feith and his claims?

In our system of modern democratic societies, lawyers have a key role to play. They are the guardians–the gatekeepers–of legality. The rule of law requires lawyers to exercise independent judgment, and to give dispassionate, professional advice. That did not happen, at least in the upper echelons of the administration, in the Departments of Justice and Defense. Politically appointed lawyers–not the military, not the career civil servants–could be relied upon by the politicians to do what was needed, reflecting an unhappy convergence of ideology, incompetence, and weakness. Doug Feith is a lawyer, although he was not serving the administration in that capacity. He has a helpfully dodgy memory. During our conversation he spoke with pride of his role in ensuring that none of the Guantánamo detainees should be able to rely on Geneva. He also recalled only having become involved in the new interrogation techniques late on, when Haynes’ memo reached Rumsfeld. I pointed out to him that the memo itself said that its author had already consulted Feith. His reaction? Merely to point out that I had mispronounced his name. Following a lengthy conversation–which was recorded and makes remarkable listening because of his well-developed sense of self–my perception was clear: Doug Feith was deeply involved in the decision-making process, fully supported it, and failed to address the basic questions that one would have expected the Pentagon’s head of policy to be preoccupied with.

It’s well worth reading in full, no matter what your preoccupations.

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Comments

  1. Paul Lauritzen 04/23/2008 - 2:24 pm  contributor

    Horton’s interview with Sands is definitely worth reading. The role that the television show “24″ played leaves one speechless.

    But it is not just the role of lawyers within the administration that is distressing. Alan Dershowitz’s call for setting up courts that could issue “torture warrants” suggests the peril of allowing lawyers to do our moral thinking for us.

  2. Margaret O’Brien Steinfels 04/23/2008 - 2:58 pm  subscriber  contributor

    fyeyes: Human Rights First has a 14 minute DVD tracing the role of “24″ in the torture horror. It’s called “Primetime Torture,” and they are http://www.humanrightsfirst.org; info about the DVD: http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/etn/primetime/index.asp

    Also: Sands has an article in May Vanity Fair that goes into some detail about the trip to Guantanamo. The article is titled “The Green Light.” http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/guantanamo200805?printable=true&currentPage=all

  3. Bob Nunz 04/23/2008 - 3:00 pm

    Doesn’t Feith have a new book that he’s been making the rounds of TV shows hawking it?
    I thought I caught him on CSPAN trying to justify the Iraq invasion and brushing aside some of his recollections of events.
    Maybe someone could add a lot more on this.

  4. Paul Maurice Martin 04/23/2008 - 4:05 pm

    To use Bush-speak, my impression is that a lot of (truly) “good men” fled important government agencies at the outset of his administration. I personally knew the wife of someone whose husband was working in the EPA – I resided in Arlington, VA at the time. He resigned and they moved out of the area before Bush moved in because he was convinced that under Bush, the conduct of that agency would be unconscionable.

    Paul – Original Faith

  5. Bob Nunz 04/24/2008 - 1:53 pm

    Douglas Feith has written “War and Decision.” I suggest you check out NPR’s coverage of him (and his rationalizations) on Morning Edition Coverage of April 8 and 9.

  6. Nicholas Clifford 04/25/2008 - 1:55 pm  subscriber

    I heard Feith when he was on NPR earlier this month, and had the sense that he is one of those who realizes his war has gone terribly wrong, and tries to put the blame on others for messing it up. Who is it that deserts sinking ships?

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