The Torturer in Chief

I've said it before, but I'll let Greenwald say it now:

Recent reports that Cheney, Rice, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld, Powell, etc. -- with the knowledge and approval of Bush -- actively "choreographed" these torture methods leave no doubt about any of that, and even before that, that was abundantly clear. Yoo was not the cause of any of this, but merely responded to instructions from the White House that he create a legal framework to enable what those officials decided they wanted to do:

Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.

Yoo wasn't opining in a vacuum. He knew that these techniques were already being used and that the highest level of our Government wanted him to create legal protections for what had happened and to enable more of what they wanted to do.

People died for the torture our leaders directed. But it's a tough case to make that we're safer today when Iraq is the mess it is, bin Laden walks free, Pakistan is constantly in the headlines, our Army is rapidly deteriorating, and our civil rights have been trampled on by people who think torture works.