The Horror
by dday
We all knew this, but the level of specificity is striking.
In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.
The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined" interrogation techniques -- using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time -- on terrorist suspects who proved difficult to break, sources said.
Highly placed sources said a handful of top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding.
The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.
Having finally seen The Road To Guantanamo the other night, about three British nationals of Pakistani descent who were picked up in Afghanistan and sent to Gitmo for years despite being innocent of any crimes, this is particularly acute. The idea that these monsters were up in the White House deciding how many times a CIA agent could slap somebody is grotesque. These men and women - Cheney, Rumsfeld, Tenet, Ashcroft, Rice, and yes even that nice Mr. Colin Powell - should never be able to leave the United States again without the threat of indictment.
And by the way, that whole Rice for VP clamor?
As the national security adviser, Rice chaired the meetings, which took place in the White House Situation Room and were typically attended by most of the principals or their deputies.
Yes, please Mr. McCain, make Condi your running mate so I can follow her around in an orange jumpsuit on the campaign trail.
These people are scum and their willing subordinates Jay Bybee and John Yoo simply fed them what they needed to have retroactively - justification for their crimes, a "Golden Shield," as they called it. That doesn't make Bybee or Yoo blameless, but it puts it into perspective. The lot of them should be up at Nuremberg standing trial. And guess what, they knew it.
Then-Attorney General Ashcroft was troubled by the discussions. He agreed with the general policy decision to allow aggressive tactics and had repeatedly advised that they were legal. But he argued that senior White House advisers should not be involved in the grim details of interrogations, sources said.
According to a top official, Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."
The present isn't judging you kindly. Historians are already calling this President the worst ever. But it's really worse than that. This is a high-level crime syndicate being run out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. History won't just not judge this kindly. History will weep, and scream, and recoil.
The predictable response is to call for impeachment. It's clearly warranted, but at this point impeachment is way too good for this crew. Indictment is more like it. Less martyrs, more felons.
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