Haynes to Cooperate with Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry

Newsweek reports that William Haynes, the former general counsel at the Pentagon who had a key role in crafting policies that led to torture and abuse at Guantanamo and beyond, has agreed to be interviewed as part of an ongoing Senate Armed Services Committee probe. We hope that Mr. Haynes’ testimony — and the report of the Senate Armed Services Committee — will be made public as soon as possible. Last week’s release of the 2003 Yoo memo provides yet more evidence that torture and other cruelty were the result of official policy decisions made at the highest levels of the Bush administration; however, so far, only the low-level implementers of this torture policy been held accountable for their crimes. A Senate Armed Services Committee investigation is an important step toward justice and accountability.