TortureGate - Not Going Away

The majors all editorialize on the WH attorneys justifying prisoner abuse months before the low-level scapegoats even arrived in Iraq.

The NYT cuts to the chase:

Each new revelation makes it more clear that the inhumanity at Abu Ghraib grew out of a morally dubious culture of legal expediency and a disregard for normal behavior fostered at the top of this administration.

The WashPost is equally blunt:

There is no justification, legal or moral, for the judgments made by Mr. Bush's political appointees at the Justice and Defense departments. Theirs is the logic of criminal regimes, of dictatorships around the world that sanction torture on grounds of "national security."

Meanwhile, the leader of interrogations at Abu Ghraib is reported to have told investigator Taguba that information from prisoners was being requested directly from 'White House staff'. See story: Link

Congress is finding out how toothless they really are, as Ashcroft tells them (in so many words) that it's none of their business:

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft told Congress yesterday that he would not release a 2002 policy memo on the degree of pain and suffering legally permitted during enemy interrogations, but said he knows of no presidential order that would allow al Qaeda suspects to be tortured by U.S. personnel.

Of course, since he refuses to release the memo which busily redefines what does and doesn't constitute 'torture', his assurances ring a little hollow, to say the least...

It has been suggested that Big John might be more forthcoming if he were questioned naked, handcuffed into a 'stress position' with women's panties on his head. Frankly, it sounds like a good idea to me.

I'll have more to say on this later - right now I gotta do some work. (sigh)