In the battle over torture and detainee treatment, did the White House engage in some “coercive techniques” of its own — against top military justice officials?
Earlier, Justin noted the White House’s desperation to pass a bill codifying the treatment of detainees.
A few days ago, however, the Pentagon’s top military justice officials made that tougher — by testifying as a group against the legislation the White House has been pushing for.
But this morning, the White House released a terse, two-paragraph letter from the JAG Corps leaders stating qualified support for the White House’s legislation. But now some are suggesting that joint statement was coerced.
During Tony Snow’s press conference today, Bret Baier of Fox News, referring to an earlier statement by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), asked Snow whether the White House, over the course of a five hour closed door meeting, tried to force officers from the Judge Advocate General Corps to sign a prepared statement supporting the White House’s legislation. As we’ve noted before, JAGs have consistently argued that defendants must be able to see the evidence used against them; and the White House has found them a troublesome opponent.
Here’s the clip:
Update: We’ve added the JAGs’ letter to our document collection.