On Wednesday the New York Times reported Secret U.S. Endorsement of Severe Interrogations. Shortly after Alberto R. Gonzales Became Attorney General (in February 2005), the Justice Department issued a secret opinion that "for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures." It was "an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency."
"The classified opinions, never previously disclosed, are a hidden legacy of President Bush’s second term and Mr. Gonzales’s tenure at the Justice Department, where he moved quickly to align it with the White House after a 2004 rebellion by staff lawyers that had thrown policies on surveillance and detention into turmoil."
The Times also has a good graphic on this history of this story.
After the story broke, Dana Perino's press conference was an exercise in ridiculous circular logic. And Bush's comments were all but called lies. "They can't say that Congress has been fully briefed while refusing to turn over key documents used to justify the legality of the program," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said.
Daily Kos says it well, "So there you have it. We don't torture. The administration won't say what "enhanced techniques" they use, they won't confirm or deny using blows to the head, extremes in temperature or waterboarding, and in fact, they won't even say how they themselves define torture, but we must trust that they are doing only what is necessary to protect us. And if they have to do it from secret prisons in undisclosed countries, well, we don't need to know about that either lest we, "trigger an attack," and then blame the administration for not keeping us safe."
Can we start impeachment proceedings yet? If not, what the hell is holding us back?
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