The Avalon Project : General Orders No. 100
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF ARMIES
OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE FIELD
Prepared by Francis Lieber, promulgated as
General Orders No. 100 by President Lincoln,
24 April 1863.
Art. 16.
Military necessity does not admit of cruelty
- that is, the infliction of suffering for
the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of
maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of
torture to extort confessions. It does not
admit of the use of poison in any way, nor of
the wanton devastation of a district. It
admits of deception, but disclaims acts of
perfidy; and, in general, military necessity
does not include any act of hostility which
makes the return to peace unnecessarily
difficult.
Reporters Offered Look Inside
Combatant Status Review Tribunals
In an interview room, officials explained,
the detainees meet with a personal
representative, a military officer assigned
to assist them through the process. In the
interview room, detainees are shackled, and
a guard sits outside the door.
Detainee participation in the process has run
the gamut from crumpling up the documents
presented to asking animatedly to help
prepare their defense. No detainees have been
hostile to their personal representative, but
some have refused to participate, the
officials said.
The room is small, brightly lit, with a
light-blue carpet and lightly colored paneled
walls. "We wanted (the detainees) to
understand that this is a different process,"
an official said. "This is something new."
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