Why did our leaders think they could legally torture people ??

[kentuck]

The memoes were sent from the Justice Dept to the Pentagon to the White House and all said it was OK to torture the al Qaeda and the Taliban because they were not a "nation-state" and had not signed onto the rules of the Geneva Convention. The one opposing voice was from the State Dept and Colin Powell. But the issue must have been requested by the WH ? Otherwise, why were all the memoes going to the Executive Office?

The advice given in the memoes was that the pResident could order torture on these terrorist combatants. It was assumed that since they had not signed on to the treaties, we did not have to adhere to them either. Even though we are signees to the Geneva convention treaties. It was a total irrational decision, made supposedly by the lawyers and legal counsel at the Justice Dept, Pentagon, and the White House.

What type of environment could lead them to believe such a despicable theory? Was it similar to the Office of Special Plans, who gave Bush and Cheney the "intelligence" they wanted, even though it was not validated by the usual intelligence sources, the CIA or the FBI? Where did they ever get the idea that they could threaten POWs or "detainees" with death, for example?