Jonathan Fredman told Gitmo officers he would show them one of the documents used to get DOJ approval.

All the lawyers behind the torture regime keep repeating the same mantra: the removal of clothing is not nudity (or naked). Jane Mayer’s book includes an explanation for the logic of that statement.

In a pathetic attempt to claim that the techniques–including the use of phobias and the removal of clothing–approved by Rummy in December 2002 did not lead to the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Jim Haynes, Diane Beaver, and Jane Dalton are all claiming that the removal of clothing is qualitatively different than nudity.

The charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani were dropped not because he was tortured. So was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, after all, and he’s still being charged. The charges against al-Qahtani were dropped because trying him would have amounted to trying Rummy, Jim Haynes, and Diane Beaver, too. And trying al-Qahtani would have also proved that torture doesn’t work.

Not only did the Green Light article appear at the same time as the Torture Memo, but it also appeared at the same time as some profiles of the Abu Ghraib figures convicted for abuse.