'Just followed orders': Guantanamo mission came straight from Bush, Rumsfeld

When military investigators questioned Erie County Judge Michael E. Dunlavey about reported prisoner abuse during his tenure at the Guantanamo Bay camp for suspected terrorists, Dunlavey told them he got his "marching orders" from President Bush, according to a new book about U.S. policies regarding torture.

The book, "Administration of Torture: A Documentary Record from Washington to Abu Ghraib and Beyond," relies on government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act to trace the development of what the authors claim was prisoner abuse and torture that emerged in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The book uses Dunlavey's words to place him, a retired two-star general in the U.S. Army Reserve, at the advent of the development of what have become disputed interrogation policies.

In a statement Dunlavey provided to a U.S. Air Force lieutenant general investigating FBI reports of detainee abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Dunlavey explains that as leader of interrogations at Guantanamo, he reported directly to President Bush and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Hmmm.

I have no reason to question what the authors claim. In fact I'd bet the farm they've got it right, but "just following orders" didn't work at Nuremberg and I seriously doubt if that defense is gonna get Judge Dunlavey off either.

War crimes are war crimes no matter what the provocation. Dunlavey was a military general at the time and under military command, but that doesn't exonerate him for his participation.

There's gonna be a lot of "correcting" required when the dust clears. The Bush administration is stacking up war crimes like chord wood.

I've said it before and will repeat it. There are some things people just shouldn't do to other people.

Via The Signs.