Military Warned Against Torture

When Bush officials began talking up tougher interrogations, they turned to a military agency tasked with preparing soldiers to resist torture, the JPRA, for advice. But with the advice came repeated — and ignored — warnings that the techniques they used on their soldiers were considered " torture" and produced "unreliable information." According to one July 2002 memo sent to the Penatgon's chief lawyer from the JPRA, "The unintended consequence of a U.S. policy that provides for the torture of prisoners is that it could be used by our adversaries as justification for the torture of captured U.S. personnel." Despite these grave misgivings, the administration approved 10 new interrogation methods derived from the JPRA's training in August.