Societe Nationale Industrielle Aerospatiale, Or the Geneva Convention

I’m being a bit silly now–checking my email before I go to bed (the recently successful mr. ew is watching Nimoy on Next Generation so I can sneak away). And I’m not a lawyer. But I’ve got a suspicion that Steven Bradbury invoked the "Societe la la la" to suggest the Geneva Convention was meant to be read even more literally than its words.

That’s my initial take, anyway, from reading his August 31, 2006 Letter to John Rizzo about detainee treatment.

Here’s one example:

More specifically, the prohibition in subparagraph (a) on "violence to life an person" suggests that not all physical contact with detainee is banned; the word "violence" connotes "an exertion of physical force so as to injure or abuse."

In case you’re wondering, Steven Bradbury, who wrote this, is currently a Partner at Dechert, Scooter Libby’s old firm.  The phone number there is (202) 261-3300.

The ACLU got several more late Bush Administration documents in today’s document dump:

August 31, 2006 Memorandum to Rizzo from OLC concerning Application of Detainee Treatment Act to Conditions of Confinement

2007 OLC opinion on Interrogation Techniques

August 23, 2007 Letter from OLC to CIA

November 6, 2007 Letter from OLC to CIA

November 7, 2007 Letter from OLC to CIA

June 11, 2009 Memorandum for the Attorney General written by David Barron

(All but the last of which–if you’re on hold with Dechert–were written by Steven Bradbury.) I’ll be reading all these tomorrow. But in the meantime–if you need a hobby–here they are.