Monday, July 11, 2005

From Bad to Worse

The second half of the interview with Jane Mayer is up on Democracy Now!'s website. In it, Ms. Mayer, the author of the article in the New Yorker mentioned here last week, directly connects the treatment of prisoners in Gitmo to Nazi doctors and human experimentation under the Nazis.

She explains that every interrogation in Gitmo was as carefully monitored as a scientist would monitor an experiment, in order to record all results for later analysis. Nothing, in other words, done in Gitmo was accidental, unreported, or unrecorded. It may not have been pre-authorized, but it was noted, and all of it is known. And I remember again the amazement of historians and others, that the Nazis kept such meticulous records of what the world calls The Holocaust.

Because, in both cases, it was all seen as an experiment.

And this treatment was authorized via the Justice Department. The document making that authorization is classified, and reference to it is always made to justify these "assertive methods."

And I keep reminding myself that the New Yorker has a sterling reputation for fact-checking. And that the Administration has a vested interest in denying stories like this.

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