I was stunned to see this story on Yahoo, and even more stunned that it has not been diaried.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush's most senior advisers approved "enhanced interrogation techniques" of top al Qaeda suspects by the Central Intelligence Agency, ABC News reported on Wednesday, citing sources it did not name.
ABC reported that the so-called "principals" discussed interrogation details in dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House.
Who was involved???
Of course it's everyone we expect, with maybe a few surprises.
Rice, Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Powell, and Tenet.
I know we have suspected it all along, but it's really hard to visualize this now that the truth is out:
Top White House officials sat around talking in explicit detail about how America was going to torture people.
"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,"
What the hell? Can this really be happening? Will the shit finally hit the fan on this? The United States of America has prosecuted and imprisoned people for waterboarding prisoners. Now we're hearing how it was discussed at the highest level of the Bush Administration.
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.
Choreographing torture, for the love of God. So much for the sanctity of human life bullshit! Is anyone but us going to get angry about this? Will anyone insist these war criminals be brought to justice?
In the understatement of the century, Attorney General John Ashcroft said:
"Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."
I hope we do not have to wait for history to judge these criminals!
Update II: Here's the video (h/t to SmileySam):
Update:
Thanks for the Rec's!
I'm glad to see that this is getting some attention - not just the rec list, but "Top Story" at ABC News.
No video yet, but some SCARY pictures-
Not a word yet on Fox, CNN, or CBS, though. Let's hope this story gets some legs!
