Her name is Mary L. Walker. You can read about her here. [UPDATE: No, you can’t. They took her down a coupla days after I posted this. But you can read the same interview here] She’s the General Counsel of the U.S. Air Force. A woman devoted to God, she offers such advice:

To live your life in that context while depending on God for whatever the outcome takes faith and courage. Making moral decisions in the workplace where it is easy to go along and get along takes courage. It takes moral strength and courage to say, "I’m not going to do this because I don’t think it’s the right thing to do." I don’t believe I would have the courage to live that way if I was not personally connected to the God of the universe.

Sounds innocent enough. So, I ask again, why is everyone calling her a Nazi bitch?

Because she also wrote a confidential (now leaked) Pentagon memo give legal rationales by which US personnel could use torture in contravention of various international treaties and US laws. Not "compliance" with treaties and laws, but contravention.

The story was broken by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required, but reprinted here), which says:

To protect subordinates should they be charged with torture, the memo advised that Mr. Bush issue a "presidential directive or other writing" that could serve as evidence, since authority to set aside the laws is "inherent in the president."

Come again? The authority to set aside laws is inherent in the president? Didn’t he, you know, take an oath to uphold the laws? Did we become some sort of dictatorship when I wasn’t paying attention?

Anyway, this women is getting the wrath she richly deserves – from both Christian fundamentalists and the left.

(Hat tip: Billmon)