Use of dogs to scare prisoners was approved
Military Intelligence Personnel Were Involved, Handlers Say

"A military intelligence interrogator also told investigators that two dog handlers at Abu Ghraib were "having a contest" to see how many detainees they could make involuntarily urinate out of fear of the dogs, according to the previously undisclosed statements obtained by The Washington Post.

"The statements by the dog handlers provide the clearest indication yet that military intelligence personnel were deeply involved in tactics later deemed by a U.S. Army general to be "sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses."

But was it torture? Not according to Cheney/bush.

"In particular, the Justice Department defined torture in a much narrower way than has been the general standard to date, making "within U.S. law" a definition that might not be accepted elsewhere. For example, torture must be equivalent to such serious injury to cause "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

"But the Justice Department also concludes that the torture convention, an international law prohibiting torture, does not expressly prohibit cruel and inhumane treatment, which would include a wide range of painful acts that fall short of "serious physical injury such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

At some point it would seem to me that one could define the basic decency and worth of people by whether they condoned these practices.

Arf