Sunday, April 21, 2013

“If the detainee dies you’re doing it wrong.”



One of the most quotable phrases coming out of Bush’s Global War on Terrorism now appears to be highly questionable. Then-CIA lawyer Jonathan Fredman was quoted by Senator Carl Levin, Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, as having said that the standard of detainee treatment during interrogations was “basically subject to perception. If the detainee dies you’re doing it wrong.”

This quote continues to be used in articles and books, but reporting by Stuart Taylor, Jr. (no relation) in the NationalJournal and by Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare sheds light on the shaky ground on which it rests.