A Salute to Alberto J. Mora

Until the end of 2005, the Navy’s top lawyer, Alberto J. Mora, waged a behind-the-scenes battle with Pentagon brass and civilian leaders in an attempt to keep the U.S. military from committing torture and abuse.

He deserves every American’s gratitude. He was one of many uniformed lawyers in the military who objected to the highly aggressive interrogation practices and harsh, degrading prisoner treatment championed by Donald Rumsfeld.

Okay, this guy Mora is a Republican, a military guy and a supporter of the overall Bush agenda. But he stood up for what is right, dammit. In one July 2004 memo, Mora wrote:

"Even if one wanted to authorize the U.S. military to conduct coercive interrogations, as was the case in Guantánamo, how could one do so without profoundly altering its core values and character?" Mr. Mora asked the Pentagon's chief lawyer, William J. Haynes II

Mora’s a classic example of an insider who spoke truth to power at key moments, subtly trying to shame the neocons into at least giving torture in the name of freedom a second thought.

"In my view, some of the authorized interrogation techniques could rise to the level of torture, although the intent surely had not been to do so," Mr. Mora wrote.

Mora was effective enough that he briefly brought about a change in the Bush/Rummy/neocon pro-torture policy.

According to the N.Y. Times:

Mr. Mora took up the issue after Mr. Brandt came to him on Dec. 17, 2002, to relay the concerns of Navy criminal agents at Guantánamo that some detainees there were being subjected to "physical abuse and degrading treatment" by interrogators.

Acting with the support of Gordon R. England, who was then secretary of the Navy and is now Mr. Rumsfeld's deputy, Mr. Mora took his concerns to Mr. Haynes, the Defense Department's general counsel.

[snip]

After trying to rally other senior officials to his position, Mr. Mora met again with Mr. Haynes on Jan. 10, 2003. He argued his case even more forcefully, raising the possibility that senior officials could be prosecuted for authorizing abusive conduct, and asking: "Had we jettisoned our human rights policies?"

Still, Mr. Mora wrote, it was only when he warned Mr. Haynes on Jan. 15 that he was planning to issue a formal memorandum on his opposition to the methods — delivering a draft to Mr. Haynes's office — that Mr. Rumsfeld suddenly retracted the techniques.

By then, however, it was too late. The Abu Ghraib story was about to break, and the world would see the pain and degredation the U.S. was inflicting upon its detainees in its “War on Terror.”

Mr. Mora, thanks for trying to stop it.