ACLU tortures logic at Gitmo

David Rivikin and Lee Casey:

THE "GOTCHA" crowd has fallen on its face again.

In an effort to show that on the Bush administration's evil watch the U.S. military has been systematically mistreating prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan with tacit approval or even outright encouragement from its civilian superiors, the American Civil Liberties Union has been demanding the release of dozens of internal military investigative reports. But the two reports on U.S. detainee policy just released in response to an ACLU lawsuit paint a picture quite the opposite of what the ACLU expected.

Though heavily redacted to remove operational details, the reports (by Brig. Gens. Richard Formica and Charles Jacoby) show a Pentagon open to criticism and change, and determined to guarantee detainees the humane treatment promised by President Bush when the war on terror began.

Genuine instances of abuse are noted, but these are very much the exception and not the rule. The reports indicate that many allegations of abuse simply are unsubstantiated — or that the "victim's" story changes once carefully examined. The most serious criticism is that the administration's detainee policies were not adequately communicated down the chain of command, resulting in confusion on the ground about what treatment was permissible. In addition, there was a lack of training on detainee handling. These points have been corrected.

Predictably, the ACLU has cried "whitewash." But what we are seeing is the refusal by administration critics to see anything other than the "torture narrative" they have constructed.

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There is more. It is interesting how desperate the ACLU is to find torture where there is none. It gives you the impression that their anti war agenda keeps bumping up against the facts that do not support their meme. If our enemies need an organization on their side in this war, the ACLU appears ready to help with any legal maneuver they need.