So do you think a Democrat leaked this to make his/her own party look bad? If not, what other possibility is there?

I find the entire controversy regarding torture a complete joke. American troops did this in WWII to extract vital data, they even did it after the war to secure information about alledged war crimes. There is no doubt that this method has value otherwise it would have died centuries ago. The folks who constantly say you can’t rely on this data simply fail to explain why it is unreliable as if their assertions make it true.

Sun Tzu said a leader who ws restrained in his use of force during war was all ready defeated just about sums up what these people wish. War isn’t about moral high grounds it is about winning.

There is no substitute for victory and people who tell us differently do not wish America well, and would never serve nor fight for the USA, regardless of the cause. To heed their advice is to court disaster.

I would disagree that our charity is “selfless”. It might look that way on the surface, but if you follow the money our moral awesomeness is only a fraction of the story. Not that I care much. I mean, you’ve gotta spend money to make money and helping potential customers out of a jam does well for word of mouth advertising.

Those at Gitmo who were subject to other torture techniques like stress positions, sleep deprivation, and other Geneva convention violations were not authorized by the Administration to do so but carried them out independently.

One can make the argument that all torture carried out everywhere by Americans was the fault of the Administration but I believe that is overstating the case. Clearly, there was torture authorized by the White House and torture carried out by independent commands - out of control MP’s and the like. To say it was all authorized is belied by the facts.

I think a more plausible explanation is that Pelosi and co refused to begin impeachment hearings against Bush and co because of their tacit approval of the torture policy. In other words, they didn’t think that Bush and co were doing anything wrong.

Though Rick, I quibble with you when you say that those being tortured are necessarily “murderous jihadis.” Whatever happened to the presumption of innocece? Sure, some of those being tortured are “murderous jihadis” and our concerns about their relative comfort are somewhat minimized by this, but its the automatic assumption that everyone we’re holding in Guantanamo is a terrorist that worries me. The assumption that everyone we’re torturing deserves it is NOT a sound legal or moral policy.