Reed Brody, attorney for the Human Rights Watch, on President George W. Bush cancelling his visit to Switzerland.
Bush was scheduled to speak to at a Jewish charity event. Criminal complaints about Bush's use of waterboarding were lodged in Geneva. Under the Geneva Conventions laws, waterboarding is considered torture. Bush has admitted in interviews and his book Decision Points that he approved the use of waterboarding on detainees.
Detainee Manadel al-Jamadi was tortured to death at Abu Ghraib. Jamadi was hung from his wrists for several hours and beaten. Jamadi's death was ruled a homicide by the U.S. military pathologist.
There is a documented of a Navy dog phyically attacking a detainee in Abu Ghraib on Dec. 12, 2003. The dog bit the detainee.
There has been no proof provided by conservatives that torture provided intelligence. Defense Sec. Leon Panetta informed Sen. John McCain that none of the intelligence used to find Osama bin Laden came from torture.
From a short period of time President Bush has went from the most power man on the planet to a fugitive from international law. Amazing.
Update: Litbrit pointed out to me that the story is from February of 2011.
The Washington Post reports former President George W. Bush admits to ordering the waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.
In his book, titled "Decision Points," Bush recounts being asked by the CIA whether it could proceed with waterboarding Mohammed, who Bush said was suspected of knowing about still-pending terrorist plots against the United States. Bush writes that his reply was "Damn right" and states that he would make the same decision again to save lives, according to a someone close to Bush who has read the book.
Bush previously had acknowledged endorsing what he described as the CIA's "enhanced" interrogation techniques - a term meant to encompass irregular, coercive methods - after Justice Department officials and other top aides assured him they were legal. "I was a big supporter of waterboarding," Vice President Richard B. Cheney acknowledged in a television interview in February.
"Damn right" Bush ordered torture. Bush wasn't so cavalier about this fact when he was in the White House. Bush gave Katie Couric an alternative version of reality.
"I've said to the people that we don't torture, and we don't."
Except when Bush tortures people.
The United States is violating the Geneva Conventions it is legally obligated to comply with. The CIA destroyed 92 videotapes to hide evidence of torture. The Bush administration was scared of getting prosecuted. Bush can now brag about torture because President Barack Obama has vowed to to prosecute anyone involved with waterboarding. Bush is legally in the clear and knows it.
In April of 2009, Sean Hannity told actor Charles Grodin he would allow himself to be waterboarded.
Asked whether he would consent to being waterboarded, Hannity said: "Sure … I’ll do it for charity … I’ll do it for the troops’ families."
Keith Olbermann offered $1,000 for every second Hannity last. Hannity still has not submitted himself to be waterboarded for charity.
The amazing thing about Fox News is guys like Hannity and O'Reilly feel they must play up this false tough guy image. Grodin clearly threatened Hannity's manhood and got Hannity to agree to do something he has no intention on following through with. Sometime Pushing Rope contributor Alex Pickett allowed himself to be waterboarded. Alex only lasted a few seconds. Pickett was told this before being waterboarded.
“One tablespoon of water in your lungs and you’re dead,” he says, matter-of-factly. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Note to Kenneth Quinnell: this is what it means to support the public option. The Huffington Post reports Speaker Nancy Pelosi guarantees the public option will be in the House bill.
"I fully support the public option. The public option will be in the bill that passes the House," Pelosi (D-Calif.) said purposefully.
Ryan Grim notes Pelosi isn't happy about the deal the White House made with big PHARMA.
"We have different things in our bill. We have the right to negotiate rates in the Energy and Commerce [Committee] bill," Pelosi told the Huffington Post after the briefing. "The Senate bill does not close the doughnut hole. We do," she added, referring to the period of time when Medicare does not cover prescription medicine for seniors. "And so we have some differences on those issues that relate to prescription drugs."
Pelosi is promising the public option in the House version of the bill. It is hard for Pelosi to walk back from such a bold promise. Pelosi did no guarantee that Medicare would be able to negotiate for cheaper prescription drugs. The "Energy and Commerce bill" remark comes off as a diss to the White House.
The Obama administration refused to back Pelosi when she accused the CIA of lying in their briefings to her. CIA Director Leon Panetta later admitted the agency did lie to Congress about waterboarding. Obama praises Charles Grassley after the Senator accuses the President of supporting death panels. Obama will not back the Speaker of his own party. What an atrocious way to do business.
New Pushing Rope contributor Alex Pickett underwent waterboarding in 2008. Alex was only able to last a few seconds. You can read his description of his experience. It's worth checking out: I'm confident Alex is the only journalist ever to be waterboarded while strippers were watching.
Erich “Mancow” Muller is a Chicago morning talk radio host for WLS radio. Mancow repeatedly said on his show that waterboarding is not torture. As a joke, Mancow volunteered to have himself waterboarded. Mancow lasted "6 or 7 seconds" and reluctantly admitted waterboarding is torture.
"It is such an odd feeling to have water poured down your nose with your head back...It was instantaneous...and I don't want to say this: absolutely torture."
Mancow submitted himself to be waterboarded as a morning radio stunt and to prove it was not torture. Mancow told Keith Olbermann he was in pain two days after the experience.
“I felt the effects for two days. I had chest pains. I told my wife — I have two little kids. We prayed. I said, dear God, help me. I had chest pains. I was so stressed out by this,” Mancow said.
Money quote:
MANCOW: First of all, Sean Hannity called me and said, “It’s still not torture.” I said, “Sean” — he is a friend of mine — “it is torture.” All right. But, look, you are giving 10,000 dollars to the Veterans of Valor.org. So I think you are stand-up guy for doing that.
We should all care about torture. It is an act of violence that is morally unacceptable. The Geneva Conventions make clear torture is illegal.
To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:
(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
(b) Taking of hostages;
(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;
(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.
The U.S. Constitution grants Habeas corpus. The U.S. Supreme Court decision Boumediene et al v. Bush allowed detainees to file Habeas corpus petitions. The Eighth Amendment forbids the use of "cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Torture fits the definition of unconstitutional treatment of prisoners. Boumediene does not give detainees the same rights as American citizens. Conservatives argue it is okay to waterboard detainees because they are foreigners. Xenophobia trumps conducting interrogations that would produce quality intelligence.
The question that should be asked is why conservatives care so little about torture. The evidence is torture interrogations did not produce the intelligence the Bush administration claimed. Conservatives rightfully bash repressive regimes for torturing political prisoners. Why is torture good if the United States does it? Repressive if done by China.
Conservatives use the argument of jihadists beheading prisoners as evidence the Bush administration tactics are justified. Conservatives made the simplistic argument two wrongs make a right. Are we suppose to start beheading detainees because terrorists do? The question is asinine. As is waterboarding Khalid Sheik Mohammed 183 times and expecting new information.
The United States has sent Maher Arar sent to Syria to be tortured. He was released because the CIA mistaked him for someone else. Arar was held and tortured in Syria for ten months. Not only do we torture like repressive regimes - we outsource work to these countries
Sean Hannity debated Charles Grodin about torture. Hannity jokingly volunteered himself to be waterboarded.
GRODIN: You're for torture.
HANNITY: I am for enhanced interrogation.
GRODIN: You don't believe it's torture. Have you ever been waterboarded?
HANNITY: No, but Ollie North has.
GRODIN: Would you consent to be waterboarded? We can waterboard you?
HANNITY: Sure.
GRODIN: Are you busy on Sunday?
HANNITY: I'll do it for charity. I'll let you do it. I'll do it for the troops' families.
Keith Olbermann was offended Hannity would be so dismissive about waterboarding. Olbermann expressed doubts that Hannity would allow himself to be waterboarded. Olbermann offered $1,000 for every second Hannity lasts.
Shepard Smith powerfully expresses his outrage against torture.
"We are America, we don't torture! And the moment that is not the case, I want off the train! This government is of, by, and for the people -- that means it's mine. That means -- I'm not saying what is torture, and what is not torture, but I'm saying, whatever it is, you don't do it for me! I want off the train when the government starts -- I want off, next stop, now!"
Smith eloquently explains how waterboarding goes against American values.
"They better not do it," he said. "If we are going to be Ronald Reagan's Shining City on the Hill, we don't get to torture. We don't do it." Fade to black.
National Review contributor Cliff May unsurprising defends the Bush administration. This is the same May whom accused the Left of "Romancing the Jihad." You can count on the National Review to accuse the Left of treason on a weekly basis.
This is a jaw dropping exchange between Anderson Cooper and former White House Press Sec. Ari Fleischer.
COOPER: Ari, was President Bush lying when he said, we do not torture?
FLEISCHER: No, I don't think he was lying.
COOPER: Was he telling the truth?
FLEISCHER: Yes. I think that it depends, again, on things that none of us were privy to, that none of us saw, that none of us know.
COOPER: If what they did was -- was right and -- and correct and legal, why did they destroy the evidence? Why did they destroy the videotapes?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: They destroyed the videotapes of two people being tortured, water-boarded, more than 100 times.
FLEISCHER: I think that's a fair question. And I think the CIA destroys a lot of things. They -- they typically like to destroy as much things as they can. That's a matter of procedure at the CIA, not only on this, but on a host of...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Porter Goss, I think, head of the CIA, specifically did not want those tapes destroyed. And, yet, they were.
FLEISCHER: Well, and that's why I said I think that's a fair question. I think it's a matter of CIA routine procedure to destroy a lot of things. And, sometimes, they go too far, get themselves in trouble for it.
People can draw their own conclusions on why the C.I.A. destroyed 92 videotapes. If a drug gang or mafia destroyed evidence prosecuters would use that information to charge the leaders of criminal conspiracy. The cover up is what got the Watergate Seven and Lewis "Scooter" Libby convicted. The destruction of the videotapes hurt the Bush administration.
I'm not sure the Bush people should publicly defend waterboarding and say President Barack Obama is endangering America. Obama didn't have the stomach to prosecute. Dick Cheney and other former Bush officials attacked Obama on on the cable talk shows. Moveon.org, Firedoglake and Daily Kos pressured Obama to prosecute. Obama slightly retracted his earlier position of no prosecution of Bush officials.
Cheney badly miscalculated against Obama. Cheney will lose if he fights Obama in the political arena. The same way Hillary Clinton and John McCain lost. George W. Bush had enough sense to maintain a low profile. Cheney is a Vice-President so unpopular that he was not invited to the Republican Nation Convention. Democrats maintain control of both houses of Congress. Cheney has no political collateral. His surrogates Ari Fleischer and Michael Hayden have less. The smart move for Cheney would have been to keep his mouth shut and work a backroom deal with the Justice Department. Cheney isn't that smart.
Obama can turn the heat on Bush administration officials involved with torture and take the economy on the front page. Republicans will play defense for a highly unpopular President and Vice-President. The GOP is tanking in the polls and fighting amongst the moderates and red meat conservatives. Prosecuting the John Yoo isn't going to hurt Obama's approval ratings. If Republicans want to run on waterboarding in 2010 and 2012 the Democrats will win. Guaranteed.
President Barack Obama has left the door open to prosecution of Bush administration lawyers involved in making torture policy.
"With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the Attorney General within the parameters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that. I think that there are a host of very complicated issues involved there."
Asked about his opinion of a congressional investigation into the matter, Obama refrained from taking a position -- but maintained that such an investigation should be bipartisan if it happens. "As a general deal, I think that we should be looking forward and not backwards. I do worry about this getting so politicized that we cannot function effectively, and it hampers our ability to carry out critical national security operations."
Asked Sunday on ABC's "This Week" about the fate of those officials, Emanuel said the president believes they "should not be prosecuted either and that's not the place that we go."
The release of the memos was going to create pressure on Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to prosecute. Obama was asked in the Oval Office if Bush lawyers could be prosecuted. "I don’t want to prejudge that," Obama answered.
Obama repeatly stressed C.I.A. operatives will not be prosecuted. The President went to the Langley headquarters to personally deliver that message.
The White House press corp is curious about why the Obama administration backtracked on previous statements about criminal prosecutions against Bush officials. Press Sec. Robert Gibbs does his best to spin.
Kevin Drum makes a strong argument that Office of Legal Counsel attorney can not be prosecuted without charges leading to George W. Bush. Drum sees Obama eventually ruling prosecution is impossible. My take is this is take on momentum of it's own. Bush supporters are fewer than the people that dislkie him. That doesn't mean Bush, Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld will be prosecuted. George Tenet is another story. Some people were born to fall on the sword.
The C.I.A. waterboarded Abu Zubaydah a minimum of 83 times in August of 2002. Khalid Sheik Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. Firedoglake blogger Marcy Wheeler broke the latter story before the New York Times. Wheeler found information about Mohammed's waterboarding from a C.I.A. memo sent to John Rizzo, Senior Deputy Council for the C.I.A. Rizzo was involved with the C.I.A. secret prisons. His nomination for CIA general counsel was killed in the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The memo makes clear former C.I.A. Director George Tenet had to approve all uses of waterboarding.
Any interrogation plan that involves the use of enhanced techniques must be reviewed and approved by "the Director, DCI Counterterrorism Center, with the concurrence Chief, CTC Legal Group."
The memo admits Zubaydah and Mohammed were waterboarded.
Consistent with its heightened standard for the use of waterboarding, the CIA has used this technique in the interrogation of only three detainees to date (KSM, Zubaydah and 'Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri) and has not been used since the March 2003 interrogation of KSM.
The damning evidence is on page 37.
The CIA used the waterboard "at least 83 times during August 2002" in the interrogation of Zubaydah. IG Report at 90, and 183 times during March 2003 in the interrogation of KSM, see id. at 91.
The memo mostly attempts the legally justify pure torture. Anyone that doesn't think waterboarding is torture should try it. George Tenet approved this. How long until Tenet starts passing the buck to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney?
President Barack Obama spoke at the C.I.A. Langley headquarters. The President promised not to prosecute or release the identity of operatives involved in waterboarding.
"You are an indispensable tool, the tip of the spear in America's international mission and our national security," Obama said. "I will be as vigorous in protecting you as you are in protecting the American people."
He acknowledged that "the last few days have been difficult" and said he would continue to fight to keep classified documents secret. But he defended his administration's decision to release select documents last week, saying much of the information in them was already public knowledge.
"I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos," Obama said.
Releasing the memos will put pressure on Obama to prosecute people. Former C.I.A. Director Michael Hayden has repeatedly attacked Obama. Hayden is obviously nervous. Hayden's argument that terrorsts weren't aware of C.I.A. interrogation methods before the memos were released. That is garbage. Hayden is covering his ass.
This is the same Hayden that told he didn't know if waterboarding was illegal.
It [waterboarding] is not included in the current program, and in my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered to be lawful under current statute.
I have doubts only three detainees were waterboarded. A 2005 ABC News story details waterboarding and other tortures methods at an secret Afghanistan prison. Hayden told Congress only Zubaydah, Mohammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were waterboarded. What is going on is Hayden knowingly perjured himself to Congress. I doubt Hayden will get charged for perjury. Hayden isn't so confident.
If waterboarded was safe and legal then why did the Bush administration lie about their interrogation methods for years? The Bush administration either suffered from a collective pathological lying disorder or were afraid of criminal indictments.
Update:Emily Bazelon proposes disbarment for David Addington, Alberto Gonzales and Jim Haynes. I would add Rizzo and Rizzo and John Yoo. How can Obama be able to argue these men shouldn't disbarred?
Update:John McCain criticizes Obama for releasing the memos. (Still testy about the election.) McCain does state waterboarding is morally wrong.
It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable. One is too much. Waterboarding is torture, period. I can ensure you that once enough physical pain is inflicted on someone, they will tell that interrogator whatever they think they want to hear. And most importantly, it serves as a great propaganda tool for those who recruit people to fight against us. And I've seen concrete examples of that talking to former high-ranking al-Qaeda individuals in Iraq.
Update:Batocchio has a lengthy must read piece on David Rivkin's defense of waterboarding.
"We had hoped Vice President Cheney would be here tonight. I hope it’s not his back injury that’s keeping him away. Apparently, he hurt it moving some things out of his office. Personally, I had no idea that waterboards were so heavy."
Joe Lieberman, attempted humor at a black-tie dinner.
Vice-President Dick Cheney told Wolf Blitzer that he was not in the torture policymaking chain of command. Cheney adds that he supports waterboarding. This is the lack of moral courage Cheney is known for. Cheney attempted to cover up shooting Harry Whittington in a hunting accident. Cheney disavowal being involved in torture policy.
Cheney's own legal council David Addington crafted a memo with Alberto Gonzales and William Haynes granting the administration the right to waterboard Abu Zubaydah. Addington is now Cheney's Chief of Staff. Cheney expects the public to believe his former legal council crafted a torture memo without the Vice-President's approval. Not likely.
Cheney sinks lower by taking a shot at former terrorism czar Richard Clarke. The same petty side Cheney shown against Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame rears it's head at Clarke. The White House made Clarke crisis manager during the 9/11 attacks. Clarke was put in that position because no administration official knew anything about al-Qaeda.
BLITZER: We're out of time, but a quick couple of questions and then I'll let you go. Waterboarding, it was used how many times?
CHENEY: It was on three different individuals.
BLITZER: And the information you believe that was received was valid?
CHENEY: I do.
BLITZER: It stopped -- you stopped using it after, what, 2003?
CHENEY: There has not been an occasion since.
BLITZER: Why?
CHENEY: There has not been an occasion.
BLITZER: Is it -- there no need?
CHENEY: I'm just going to leave it that way. You know, when we get into talking about the application of specific techniques to prisoners, then we get into the business of signaling to our adversaries what we might or might not do and they can train for it. It has been publicly acknowledged that we did use waterboarding. That we did use it on three different individuals. And I believe it was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, and one other, I think al-Nashiri. Those three individual were subjected to waterboarding during the course of their interrogation. But that's it.
BLITZER: Because I've always been perplexed, if it is so good and so useful, there are bad guys out there right now, why not continue to use it?
CHENEY: Well, you don't use it on somebody because he's a bad guy. What we were attempting to do, and what we did was to persuade these individuals who had a lot of intelligence and information about al Qaeda -- remember, we captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in, I think it was, spring, March of '03, in Karachi. At the time we didn't know a lot about al Qaeda. On 9/11 we didn't know a lot about al Qaeda. If Dick Clarke was such an expert, how come he didn't have all of this information about al Qaeda when he was running the counterterrorism program? The fact of the matter is that we were able to persuade them to cooperate, to give us the intelligence we needed, and to give us the base of understanding about al Qaeda, about personnel and operations and financing and geography and so forth that was essential in terms of defending our country against further attacks. Now you don't go in and pull out somebody's toenails in order to get them to talk. This is not torture. We don't do torture.
BLITZER: John McCain says it's torture.
CHENEY: Well, John is wrong. He and I have a fundamental disagreement on this point. But what the agency did was they sought formal guidance from the senior leadership of the administration, as well as the Justice Department in terms of what was appropriate and what wasn't. And they got that guidance. And they followed that guidance, as far as I know. I have no reason to believe anybody out at the agency violated any tenet of the obligations and responsibilities we have in terms of statutes or our treaty obligations. I think it was done very professionally. I think it was done very few times, when it was necessary. I think it produced good results. I think there are Americans alive today because we used that technique on those three individuals.
BLITZER: And if necessary, would you authorize it again?
CHENEY: Well, I'm not in the chain of command, but if necessary, I would certainly recommend it again.
Christopher Hitchens volunteered to be waterboarded. The video is on Vanity Fair. Hitchens states clearly what he briefly endured was torture. This is coming from a strong supporter of the Iraq war.
Hitchens wonders what happens to men that have no vital information? Do these innocent men lose their minds from the outslaught of torture? Dick Cheney thinks waterboarding is nothing more than a dunk "dunk in water."
Hennen asked, "Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" Cheney replied, "It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president 'for torture.'"
John McCain has been on his self-rightous soapbox for so long that one wonders if he really believes his own bullshit. McCain has billed himself as a straight-talker unyielding to political influence. Perhaps the self-professed Maverick can explain why he voted against banning the CIA's use of waterboarding.
McCain said that while he remains opposed to waterboarding, "We always supported allowing the CIA to use extra measures."
We? Polls show the majority of the American people no longer support torture. The television show 24 is having a difficult time getting guest stars and ratings are tanking. Even the world of make believe doesn't support torture.
McCain's story of being a Vietnam POW is well-known. The Maverick has gotten on every talk show to condemn the United State's use of the Orwellian-sounding enhanced techniques. McCain comes within sniffing distance of the White House and now he "always supported" torture. Did McCain have a sudden change of heart and think drowning people is a neat idea or was the Maverick just using torture as an opportunity to cynically get face time on television? Please tell us Senator. You can't be both for and against waterboarding. Even President Bush has shown more techniques in his heartless defense of torture.
"If we've got somebody that we think can tell us where a nuclear bomb is planted in an American city, then I want the president to be able to authorize that to be used," he said of waterboarding, a method that makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning.
Lieberman added that while waterboarding is a "terrifying experience," the victim "is in no real danger" because "the impact is psychological."
The second part is telling. Lieberman thinks people don't get hurt from waterboarding and other enhanced methods. The image to the left is from Abu Ghraib. We see that a man is strapped to be waterboarded.
The death of Manadel Jamadi occured Abu Ghraib. He was hung like a raw meat and bleeded to death. Eight Navy SEALs received administrative punishment for Jamadi's murders. The same level of punishment for someone inproperly filing paperwork. The infamous Charles Graner and Lynndie England posed photos over Jamadi's body. Jamadi's interrogation was supervised by CIA operative Mark Swanner. A man who did his best to cover up his less than patriot handywork Paris Hilton did more jail time than Swanner.
"We always supported allowing the CIA to use extra measures."
"It is a routine act that the CIA undertakes even when they know no violation has occurred," said attorney Mark Zaid, who represents former CIA official John Kiriakou.
Zaid could legally argue that Kiriakou is a whistleblower and use the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to defend his client. No employer is allowed to break the law. CIA employees sign agreements not to release classified information. The Justice Department could argue Kiriakou endangered national security. The courts lean heavily towards the federal government on national security matters.
The question that bothers me is why did Kiriakou go public? He supports waterboarding. I heard some people theorize that the CIA put him out as an unofficial spokesman. I don't see how that helps the CIA or the White House. Maybe Kiriakou wants to bag a book deal. Anyone have any ideas why he went public?
CIA Director Michael Hayden confirms that the agency waterboarded detainees Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim Nashiri. Former CIA officer John Kiriakou told the media he supervised in the waterboarding of Abu Zabaydah. Kiriakou told MSNBC host Dan Abrams the White House was aware that Zabaydah was tortured. The CIA destroyed tapes of the detainees of being waterboarded.
Abrams: So do you believe the White House ultimately knew that he was being waterboared?
Kiriakou: Absolutely.
President Bush repeatly denied that the administration was torturing suspects. When pressed about waterboarding, Bush would say he didn't want the enemy to know about interrogation techniques. That is a disingenuous way of the President not giving a yes or no answer. Astronauts on the International Space Station are likely aware that the United States waterboards.
This is the same President whom Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Scott McClellan publicly stated was involved in the leaking and cover up of Valerie Plame's CIA covert status. Bush has no respect for classified information. He is hiding behind secrecy to protect himself from criminal prosecution.
Does anyone really believe Bush has the same difficulty understanding the meaning of waterboarding that Bill Clinton had with the word "is?" Politicians use the stupidity excuse when they are in legal trouble. I doubt Bush will be prosecuted for torture.
After all the deception, Hayden is pleading with Congress not to make a law forbidding waterboarding. The Director uses fearmongering to get his message across.
"One should not expect them to play outside the box because we've entered a new period of threat or danger to the nation, OK? So there's no wink and nod here," he said. "If you create the box, we will play inside the box without exception."
Terrorists aren't the only groups guilty of playing outside the box. The White House still hasn't come clean about secret prisons and the kidnapping of MaherArar. The Canadian citizen was taken to Syria by the CIA. The Syrian government tortured him. Maher was finally released by Syria and cleared by the Canadian government. Maher was abducted because he had a similar name to a person on the CIA's terrorist watchlist. The Bush administration refuses to comment on the Maher case. The reason is because it is (you guessed it) classified.
