Abu Ghraib Development

An interesting turn of events in the latest court martial for three Military Police who abused prisoners in abu Ghraib. The military judge has ruled that as part of their defense, their lawyers could examine top commanders in Iraq at the time. The New York Times has this:

The judge granted the defense request to interview top officials in the chain of command, including Gen. John P. Abizaid, the commander of American forces in the Middle East, Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the ground commander in Iraq, and others.

The pre-trial hearings also indicated that the defense lawyers would try to show that the highest levels of the government created an atmosphere in which any technique was acceptable to get information from detainees.

In a related, rather confusing ruling, the judge said that the defense did not have the right to review Justice Department and Defense Department memoranda relating to treatment of prisoners and the application of the Geneva Conventions.