The infamous "Question Nobody is Asking" about our treatment of detainees

[ThomWV]

Some were tortured, some were not. Some were "high value targets", some were not. Who decided? Where in the chain of command was this decision made? What was this person's authority? Indeed, who has the authority to say that in this case existing law and ethical standards apply, and in this other case they do not? I want this person's name. I'd like to know how the decision was made, what evidence was provided to this ultimate judge, in what form the approval was transmitted from the approver to the person's who did the mistreatment.

[Echo In Light]

1. Given that it's a fabricated, phony war, I'm sure the "high value targets" thing is pure bunk anyway

[ThomWV]

3. Of course it is - but that does not answer the question of who appointed themself god.

and of course the legal implications ...

[Echo In Light]

5. I know what you're getting at, but am not expecting any sacred cows held accountable

Too many enablers and PNAC skeletons in the closet - just one reason that nothing is ever going to come of this, or any of the long list of Bush/Cheney crimes.

[mmonk]

2. The so called high value target list of detainees is small

(around 5%). Many who were not were tortured as well.

[ThomWV]

4. So that makes the punishment not only cruel, but also unusual, doesn't it?

[global1]

6. It Might Be That It's The Same Person That Ordered Zelikow's Memo......

to be collected and destroyed. It seems to me that by identifying who in the White House ordered that this memo should be destroyed might also answer your question.

We hear the WH ordered this or the WH ordered that. But the WH is a building. I want to know who the person or persons IN the WH gave these orders. It seems to me that knowing the name of the person IN the White House that put this Zelikow memo order out would be very telling.

Why doesn't anyone on Senator White House's committee ask Zelikow that question? Who issued the memo recall order?

Just like someone decided who the 'high value targets' were and decided that they warranted being tortured - someone was also covering their ass in the WH. Find out who that was and get him or her under oath.

All indications these decisions were coming from the top or very near to the top. Hmmmm.... Bush or Cheney or both?

[ThomWV]

7. You understand my point exactly

I have suspected for a very long time that the reason that the tapes of the torture taking place were destroyed was not because they showed the torture itself but because they also showed real-time communications with the White House and would reveal who in Washington was giving the orders. My bet is that the tapes show a computer screen with a direct link to 'an undisclosed location' and that the person on the order-giving end can be identified giving the orders. I have little doubt that the person who demaned the memo be swept up and destoryed was either that same person or one of his/her immediate deputies - (someone on the level of Libby or Addington).

[one_true_leroy]

8. Who's to say that the "undisclosed location"

wasn't actually some torture-tent in some desert. The past administration seems to have had a penchant for micromanaging, and it would surprise me if the actions were carried out without someone "high up" personally and physically supervising.