"Contrary to American Values"

That phrase comes up again and again in the memo outlining the sanctioning of "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of detainees at Guantánamo, which former general counsel to the US navy, Alberto J. Mora, penned for Vice Admiral Albert Church, the man who headed a Pentagon investigation into the abuses.

The memo gives credence to the claims in the recent UN report of practices amounting to torture at the naval base and reveals the complete falsity of Don Rumsfeld's remarks at a recent press conference when he rubbished the report's findings and claimed that detainees were subject to excellent treatment.