Not Rumsfeld, not Gonzalez --
Bush:
NEW YORK -- A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail that characterizes methods used by the Defense Department as "torture" and a June 2004 "Urgent Report" to the Director of the FBI that raises concerns that abuse of detainees is being covered up.
[snip]
The two-page e-mail that references an Executive Order states that the President directly authorized interrogation techniques including sleep deprivation, stress positions, the use of military dogs, and "sensory deprivation through the use of hoods, etc." The ACLU is urging the White House to confirm or deny the existence of such an order and immediately to release the order if it exists. The FBI e-mail, which was sent in May 2004 from "On Scene Commander--Baghdad" to a handful of senior FBI officials, notes that the FBI has prohibited its agents from employing the techniques that the President is said to have authorized.
This story should be the lead on every cable TV news show tonight. The President of the United States personally signed off on an order which authorized the use of torture. This is a little bit more important than whether too many people are saying "Happy Holidays" as opposed to "Merry Christmas," donchya think?
Based on this evidence, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Center for Constitutional Rights amend their German complaint to include Bush as a Human Rights defendant along with Rumsfeld.