"History Will not Judge this kindly" -- Torture Was Approved at Highest Levels of Bush Admin

Posted by Pam Spaulding, Pam's House Blend at 8:14 PM on April 10, 2008.

Bush's Torture U.S.A -- they all knew.

You'll find out the one member of the administration who made the above statement below the fold. It's hard to find any words to describe how sick this is. The ABC headline says it all: "Top Bush Advisors Approved "Enhanced Interrogation".

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 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.

The advisers were members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy. At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

I guess it's bye-bye to that VP fantasy, Condi. Below the fold, there was only one member of that committee who had any reservations about the path of torture they were taking.

Our suspicions that these weren't renegade sadists at Abu Ghraib acting without any info from the highers-up, or that the closest advisers weren't aware of torture methods - no these closest advisors to Dear Leader were deciding how detainees were to be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or waterboarded. And he, as he has reminded us repeatedly, is The Decider. Needless to say, the White House has no comment.

If you can believe this, John Ashcroft had a minor blip of conscience on the radar.

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."

Are any of these people going to end up in the clink for this?

You must read the detailed DKos diary, Memo Signed By Bush, ALLOWING TORTURE, Surfaces.

Tagged as: bush, torture, war crimes

Pam Spaulding blogs at Pam's House Blend.