“A U.S. law enacted in 1994 bars torture by U.S. military personnel anywhere in the world. But the Pentagon group’s [June 7, 2004] report, prepared under the supervision of General Counsel William J. Haynes II, said that ‘in order to respect the President’s inherent constitutional authority to manage a military campaign…[the prohibition against torture] must be construed as inapplicable to interrogations undertaken pursuant to his Commander-in-Chief authority.’ The Pentagon group’s report…said further that the 1994 law barring torture ‘does not apply to the conduct of U.S. personnel’ at Guantanamo Bay. It also said the anti-torture law did apply to U.S. military interrogations that occurred outside U.S. ‘maritime and territorial jurisdiction,’ such as in Iraq or Afghanistan. But it said both Congress and the Justice Department would have difficulty enforcing the law if U.S. military personnel could be shown to be acting as a result of presidential orders.”
– Dana Priest and R. Jeffrey Smith, “Memo Offered Justification for Use of Torture,” The Washington Post, June 8, 2004