DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITE
The Navy's former top legal gun is firing a torpedo at the Bush administration, saying its treatment of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison is "contrary to everything we were ever taught about American values."
Alberto Mora, the former Navy general counsel, told The New Yorker he waged a three-year battle to stop prisoner abuses, but his pleas were rejected by brass in the Defense Department and the White House.
"If cruelty is no longer declared unlawful, but instead is applied as a matter of policy, it alters the fundamental relationship of man to government," Mora told the magazine. "It destroys the whole notion of individual rights. If you make this exception, the whole Constitution crumbles."
Mora, now the general counsel for Wal-Mart's international operations, said he first learned of prisoner abuses in December 2002 from David Brant, head of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Brant told Mora that the treatment of prisoners was "repugnant," and went on to describe how one detainee was threatened by dogs, placed on a leash, taunted by female guards and forced to wear women's underwear on his head, The New Yorker said.
Mora said it was obvious to him that "the gloves had come off" after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Daily News reported a year ago that the military's judge advocates - uniformed legal advisers known as JAGs - also repeatedly objected to aggressive interrogations of prisoners but were overruled by Pentagon brass. Originally published on February 20, 2006
Alberto Mora, the former Navy general counsel, told The New Yorker he waged a three-year battle to stop prisoner abuses, but his pleas were rejected by brass in the Defense Department and the White House.
"If cruelty is no longer declared unlawful, but instead is applied as a matter of policy, it alters the fundamental relationship of man to government," Mora told the magazine. "It destroys the whole notion of individual rights. If you make this exception, the whole Constitution crumbles."
Mora, now the general counsel for Wal-Mart's international operations, said he first learned of prisoner abuses in December 2002 from David Brant, head of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Brant told Mora that the treatment of prisoners was "repugnant," and went on to describe how one detainee was threatened by dogs, placed on a leash, taunted by female guards and forced to wear women's underwear on his head, The New Yorker said.
Mora said it was obvious to him that "the gloves had come off" after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Daily News reported a year ago that the military's judge advocates - uniformed legal advisers known as JAGs - also repeatedly objected to aggressive interrogations of prisoners but were overruled by Pentagon brass. Originally published on February 20, 2006
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/392933p-333208c.html
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