Plead the Article 31st

It appears that the General in charge of both Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, Major General Geoffrey Miller, has refused to be interviewed on the use of military dogs in interrogation. In refusing, he has invoked Article 31, the military equivalent of the 5th Amendment, which protects those being interrogated from self incrimination. This is a promising development in understanding how prisoner abuse was transferred between Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. While the Bush administration blames a few 'bad apples', the similarity of reported techniques, including the use of dogs (to exploit Arab fears of dogs), using other phobias, among other similar techniques, begs the questions of whether there was a standard for detainee abuse. The Bybee Memos, commissioned by then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, significantly restricted the definition of torture and allowed techniques that would have been banned under conventional definitions of torture and inhumane treatment, including under the Geneva Conventions. It may go all the way to the top. Follow the torture.