So here are the first two elements of the Human Rights First report card, how I would recast them, and the grades I would assign. HRF’s initial element reads:
Grade: A-
Standing Firm Against Use of Torture and Detainee Abuse. The Obama Administration clearly denounced policies of torture and detainee abuse and reinforced the primacy of the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of prisoners. The administration established a High Value Interrogation Group to ensure effective interrogation of detainees using lawful interrogation methods. There
remain legitimate concerns about various interrogation techniques that are permitted by Appendix M of the Army Field Manual that are inconsistent with the Geneva Conventions requirement of humane treatment.
I understand why HRF puts a primacy on standing firm against coercive interrogation, but the category seems too simple to me.
