Late On Torture

The only faction in the U.S. that the cretin in chief has not yet disappointed is the sadists. In its adherence to barbaric as well as ineffective and counterproductive methods of treating our often unjustly detained prisoners, this White House is unique in our history.

As the Bush administration completes secret new rules governing interrogations, a group of experts advising the intelligence agencies argue that the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish and unreliable.

The psychologists and other specialists, commissioned by the Intelligence Science Board, make the case that more than five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Bush administration has yet to create an elite corps of interrogators trained to glean secrets from terror suspects.

While billions are spent each year to upgrade satellites and other high-tech spy machinery, the experts say, interrogation methods — possibly the most important source of information on groups like al-Qaida — are a hodgepodge that date from the 1950s, or are modeled on old Soviet practices.

Some of the study participants argue that interrogation should be restructured using lessons from many fields, including the tricks of veteran homicide detectives, the persuasive techniques of sophisticated marketing and models from American history.

The science board critique comes as ethical concerns about harsh interrogations are being voiced by current and former government officials. The top commander in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, this month sent a letter to troops warning that “expedient methods” using force violated American values.

In a blistering lecture delivered last month, a former adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called “immoral” some interrogation tactics used by the CIA and the Pentagon.

But in meetings with intelligence officials and in a 325-page initial report completed in December, the researchers have pressed a more practical critique: There is little evidence, they say, that harsh methods produce the best intelligence.

The Bush administration is nearing completion of a long-delayed executive order that will set new rules for interrogations by the CIA. The order is expected to ban the harshest techniques used in the past, including the simulated drowning tactic known as water-boarding, but to authorize some methods that go beyond those allowed in the military by the Army Field Manual.(emphasis added)

As Andrew Sullivan notes in a chilling discourse today at the Daily Dish, "Once you start torturing, it has a life of its own."

What might have started as an innocent soul is darkened and eventually destroyed by exercising cruelty. It is not healthy for this country to have anyone in power in our government who regards its citizens, or any human beings, as less than human. This presidency has brought disgrace to the country in many ways, but its use of torture is its total bestialization. There, I had to invent a word to describe the chief cretin's nature.