Interrogator Matthew Alexander Describes Why Torture Is Not Effective

Hear an interview with Air Force interrogator "Matthew Alexander" (a fictitious name), the author of "How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq". Alexander was assigned to hunt down Al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq and has also worked in other parts of the World. In his book, Alexander challenges (and pretty much destroys) the Conservative conventional wisdom on the need and usefulness of torture. He instead describes a more sensible approach that uses more modern interrogation techniques that rely on skill to outsmart suspects.

The tactics described by Alexander are more practical and have been proven in the law enforcement community. It's not surprising that the smarter techniques produce better, more reliable intelligence information.

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Review from Time

Why Obama's Health Care Reform Effort Is Headed for Defeat

Obama's strategy on this was flawed from day one.

#1. Obama allowed his Presidency to be hijacked by other issues & by leftist interest groups who have their own narrow agendas apart from the rest of the Country (It was Obama's fault for allowing and even playing into this hijacking). He took his eye off the ball...which should have been the economy. Gitmo, Torture, Gay Marriage, Don't ask don't tell.... and all sorts of other distractions took over his Presidency...and of course the media couldn't resist. By putting these divisive wedge issues at the top of the agenda...instead of keeping the focus on the economy (reminding Americans of who destroyed it) he provided the Republicans with the gift that they needed. This is partly due to the wingnuts on the left.... but it's also the fault of Obama for not dealing with his own constituency effectively. The Gay folks want everything their way...right away...and they should have never had that expectation to begin with. Same with the far left enviro/human rights nuts....who are focused almost exclusively on Gitmo (when there are so many other problems). Obama failed to communicate that to these people. Now they are all going nuts....and dragging down Obama and the Democrats in the process. This is something that I expected...but I didn't expect it to happen so soon and so dramatically. These failures have been huge.

#2. Obama should have never proposed massive healthcare reform in the middle of an economic crisis....when the nation is completely broke. It was one of the most stupid political moves that I have ever seen. Massive healthcare reform would be an uphill battle even in good economic times... but it's impossible during an economic crisis. There is no money to pay for all of these proposals...unless there is a tax increase...an option which is not on the table. You can't raise taxes in the middle of an economic downturn. But even in good times, it would be difficult to get a tax increase (but you could at least talk about one).

#3. Obama lost the PR battle (as I expected). The Republicans have the most dominant media apparatus in American history. I have been saying for years...that Progressives need to establish their own media if they want to have any hope of controlling their own message. Clearly the American people have bought into the Republican message, at least on this particular issue...and on Torture and so forth...the polls show that to be the case. The Republicans control the narrative on these issues. This is one thing that Republicans do well... controlling information... using their media dominance to their advantage and influencing public opinion. Of course their talking points don't have to be based on facts or common sense... they simply have to talk the loudest and repeat their point over and over again until Americans buy their arguments. And if you repeat a lie enough times... folks will eventually buy into the lie.

#4. Obama is trying to make reforms in a Country where Americans want to see changes...and want better healthcare, but they don't want to pay for it. Americans don't want to pay for anything. Republicans have successfully turned the Country into a tax-averse nation. Conservatives have successfully convinced Americans that investing in the Country is bad...that it is somehow unpatriotic to invest in our own nation and our own people. In other words...they have been taught that all taxes are bad....and that they should fight any efforts to raise them (even temporarily). This is why this Country is in the midst of a slow death and will continue to be so...with its crumbling schools, crumbling bridges and infrastructure, poor transportation (when compared to other developed nations), deteriorating health system and stagnant and now falling standard of living. Another reason for the decline is the nations incessant focus on foreign conflicts, instigating wars, and its support for a huge military industrial complex. Approximately 1/4 of this Country's annual budget goes towards defense or defense related costs, and that doesn't include the full costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Americans don't complain about that spending...because they are convinced that the nation needs to maintain its empire status in order to keep them safe. This is a nation that is more concerned with spending money to build more bombs than to build better lives. It is more concerned with investing in military hardware than investing in its own people. That's a recipe for disaster....and we are starting to see the results. America's priorities are still out of order. Until that is changed...the nation is doomed. (and this is a sentiment that comes from a man who believes in a strong military and a strong defense). But I firmly believe, that if we were to change our current aggressive, pro-war, Truman Doctrine based interventionist foreign policy... then we would be able to scale back military spending while still maintaining a robust defense. The U.S. could save in the neighborhood of $200 Billion to $400 Billion or more per year. That's half of your health reform money. The other half could come from creating efficiencies and raising revenues (modest taxes on income, tobacco, liquor, etc).

#5. It's not that Obama is trying to do too much. The problem is... he is trying to do too much at once. A better approach to this issue would have been to concentrate first on healing the economy. After a couple of years...once the economy had a chance to recover sufficiently...and after bringing more troops home (thus decreasing military expenditures and having more money available from that change) then he could have tackled healthcare. I never believed that he would accomplish this in his first term... let alone his first year. His strategy was far too ambitious... and his overly ambitious approach to problems is now catching up to him. But the bottom line here is that healthcare would have been an easier sell if there was more money available...and there was a better economic outlook. There would have been more options to deal with costs if the deficit and the total debt outlook were more manageable (which is what would have been the case in a few years).

#6. The American political system is thoroughly corrupt. Obama should have dealt with rooting out the systemic culture of corruption and should have fought for a campaign finance overhaul before actually trying to get serious healthcare or financial legislation passed. Obama failed to cut the cord between corporate America and politicians in Washington before he set out to do all of these changes. A recipe for disaster. Members of Congress (from both parties) are servants for corporate America... they act as lobbyists for private industry. And when I say cut the cord... I mean cut it completely. Obama should have been pushing for public financing of elections, the elimination of all Quid Pro Quo activities between politicians and private interests... but he failed to do so. This means that private corporations will continue to have strong influence over legislation and over members of Congress. In fact, corporations still write legislation (just like the Tobacco Bill from a week ago...which was written by the Tobacco companies). In this kind of environment, serious change really isn't possible.

Before real change can be accomplished, there must be fundamental changes to the underlying structure of business and politics in this Country...and changes to the way Congress operates. Without new rules of the road on that front... everything else is really a joke.

Like I have stated... if there is a healthcare bill... it will be watered down to something pointless by the time Obama signs it. And he will use what little PR system he has to celebrate the legislation as a victory... (IF anything passes at all).

The same is the case for the new financial policy proposals. That will be watered down too... because the banks and the financial firms don't want it... and they usually get what they want because they control much of Congress.

Obama and the Torture Trap - Score A Round For the Republicans

President Obama suffered his first big defeat last week with the Senate voting 90-6 to block funding to close the Guantanamo detention facility, which was a major campaign promise. The House of Representatives also rejected the closure. The vote was mostly symbolic, since it does not really stop Obama from shutting down operations at Gitmo. But the Senate vote sent a strong message to the Obama Administration - with the main concern being that allowing these detainees into the U.S. as prisoners is not the best idea right now, and Americans may not be ready for that move. Some have expressed concern that these prisoners could eventually become folk heroes in Federal prisons and could influence & recruit other inmates. There is some precedent to that…but I think this concern is being overblown for political purposes. Essentially what the Senate was telling Obama is that they (and the American People) want to see the plan.

In addition to the Gitmo defeat in the Senate, Obama also allowed Republicans to set a trap for him not only on torture, but on the wider issues of Terrorism and National Security. Cheney has effectively changed the narrative by taking the focus off of the crimes that he himself took part in while pushing an illegitimate war to focus instead on labeling Obama as weak on terrorism. Now the narrative is - another terrorist attack will be Obama’s fault because of his soft on terror approach and his efforts to change interrogation policy. Of course any new attacks won’t likely be due to a difference in interrogation techniques… but that’s the perception that Republicans are trying to create in the minds of the American public….and with their media advantage, they may succeed in creating that perception. This is why I have always stated that the Republican media machine/Spin machine is so powerful that they will be able to control narratives and get their message out, even while in the minority and while they are politically unpopular. Democrats and progressives don’t yet have a media infrastructure that can match what the Republicans have.

One thing in particular is strange about Cheney’s argument. He is laying the groundwork for Obama to fail on National Security by setting him up to be blamed for any new attacks… but wasn’t it Bush/Cheney & Co. that emphasized in 2001 and the years immediately after that the U.S. would probably be hit again? They focused on that point every chance they got - when they were in office. Of course, they did that to cover their behinds… because it was their negligence that, in part, allowed 9/11 to take place. They knew Americans wouldn’t tolerate 2 big attacks in a row under the "leadership" the same cast of clowns…. They would surely be voted out in 2004 if they allowed that to happen. So they sent the message that any new attacks against the Country would not be because they weren’t working hard to stop it…besides, they had the 'War on Terror' that was going strong at the time (although in reality it actually radicalized more people to harm us than it discouraged)…but any new attacks would be because the enemy hates the U.S. and “freedom” so much and they are plotting day and night against us. They admitted that they may not be able to stop all attacks. Do you recall how they emphasized that so incessantly? But now that they are out of office…. A new terrorist attack (which the Republican Party is praying for) will be the fault of Obama and the Democrats....not because the enemy is so determined to kill Americans. The Republicans are so good at changing the narrative to fit their political aims...and they are often able to get people to believe in the script.

The Republicans see an opening to possibly revitalize their dying Party by putting national security front & center. They are hoping that another terrorist attack will lead to a comeback, but they have to prep. Obama as the Fall guy to make it work. So far so good for the Republicans…with Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh and others on the far Right showing their leadership over the Party.

The Republicans have hit Obama with a one-two punch combination… stunning him… almost knocking him down. How did Obama allow this opening? How did he get so distracted that he let his guard down? Because he allowed far Left elements of the Democratic Party to hijack his agenda & replace the nations top priorities with their own (torture, gay marriage, etc). It’s the same thing that has happened to the Republicans from time to time (and now on a more permanent basis) when they allow far Right single issue groups like the anti-abortion folks, the religious right, the racists, the anti-government crowd and the pro-gun community to hijack the wider Republican agenda. Ohh… wait a second. Hell… that is the Republican agenda. But you get my point. Obama got to this point by taking his eye off the ball… by taking his focus off of the economy, healthcare, and other bread & butter issues… to focus instead on matters that are not among the top concerns of most Americans. Although I blog about torture, it is not even a top 10 issue for me personally...never was. It's an important issue... I have stated as much before.. but i'm not as fired up about it as extreme Left ultra-Liberals are.

Obama has been unable (so far) to regain control of his Presidency since opening this can of worms. His hijacked agenda is now at risk of being driven over a cliff by some of the more fringe elements of his Party. Even Nancy Pelosi, who was dragged into this mess over the last few weeks, is now screaming uncle…and begging for the Obama train to be put back on the tracks to focus on Kitchen table issues. This is why I stated all along that pushing this issue too hard & taking the focus off of the economy was a bad idea. And attempting to close Gitmo without a well thought out detailed plan was boneheaded on the part of the President and his advisers.

Obama has also backtracked in the past few weeks on the issue of military style tribunals for terror suspects, a move that has irritated Progressives. So in the past few weeks, Obama has angered folks on the Right & the Left. But he did it to himself. Who in the World is advising him to make these boneheaded decisions?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering this is an Administration with staff that didn’t understand that flying planes low over Manhattan was probably not a good idea. It’s amazing that these folks are able to have jobs in the White House. I was amazed at how clueless these people were on that issue…and how they didn’t think it was a big deal. Now some of these same folks are showing how clueless they are on other matters.

The issue regarding the detainees is not that hard to fix. Possible solution: Segregate the international terror detainees from other inmates. The issue regarding trials is complex but not something that can’t be dealt with. The Obama Administration could start by trying as many cases as possible in the Federal civilian court system. Those suspects who can’t be tried in the Federal Courts should be retried in a rebuilt and fair tribunal system…and they could be taken through a new interrogation process if necessary (for those who faced harsh or unfair treatment under the old system). Those suspects who can’t be tried under either system should be sent back to their home Countries or held for a defined period for further investigation or charged under more broad anti-terror legislation. Holding suspects indefinitely without attorney’s & without trial is crazy talk which should be out of the question.

Obama has to get back to focusing on the bread & butter issues that matter most to Americans. He does better on the pocket book issues that people are most concerned with…although the stimulus effort from Democrats was not aggressive enough in funneling money towards job creation and creating new industries. I call this the 3rd round of a 12 round fight. Obama scored a knockdown in round 1 (by winning the election)…and won on points for round 2 (his first 100 days). But round 3 goes to the Republicans. By pushing the Torture & Gitmo issues so aggressively… lured by Leftists in his own Party, Obama fell right into a Republican trap. It allowed them an opening to take the media’s focus off of the economy which they destroyed and allowed them to put National Security and fear back on the front page.

With North Korea engaging in irrational behavior, and with Iran testing missiles, you will see Republicans pressuring Obama and even dictating the nations foreign policy, even though they are in the minority. By painting Obama as weak… they will attempt to goat Obama into leaning towards some sort of military solution (when there is no military solution) with North Korea and Iran. Israel has already launched an effort to influence U.S. media and U.S. politics, by attempting to frighten the American public with their leaked intelligence reports on Iran. Israels goal is to push Obama to go to war with Iran (a war that would likely draw in other nations...and a war that wouldn't be in the best interests of the United States...or any other Country). And as I stated, there isn't even a military solution regarding Iran to begin with. The only military solution is a sensible containment policy and defense. The solution in both cases is political, strategic and economic….with some creative out of the box thinking required. But the Republicans would like a war with both Iran and North Korea. The torture issue has now weakened Obama’s hand …in terms of possible solutions and diplomatic approaches. Notice how he has already been forced to engage in tough talk…. Pushing more sanctions for North Korea…among other possible punishments… steps that aren’t likely to work. Obama should instead push harder for direct State to State talks…and getting rid of the Six Party framework… that hasn’t worked…and probably can’t work. The idea of the Six Party framework was flawed from the beginning. A wider, more comprehensive regional Peace Treaty or non-aggression pact is needed… starting with an official end to the Korean War. But Republicans are already working to paint Obama into a corner… (because he opened the door to be attacked on National Security). The Republican media is already calling the North Korea issue "a moment of truth for Obama". As if Bush & Co. didn’t have any moments of truth with North Korea that they completely bungled. For 8 years, the Neo-Conservatives refused to negotiate one on one with North Korea…even when they were willing to give up their program (back when the U.S. had leverage). The U.S. no longer has much leverage with North Korea. That window of optimal leverage closed some time ago… in the years under Clinton and Bush. Now they want Obama to fix it…

I’m hoping that Obama won’t allow Republicans to dictate policy…and will work on a diplomatic, political and economic solution. Americans tolerated 16 consecutive years of pro-war policy under Clinton and Bush…. But Republicans are ready to give up on more sensible alternative approaches after only a few months. It’s amazing. Iran and North Korea aren’t responding to Obama’s overtures after a few weeks (which have not been that friendly) and now all of a sudden it’s time to send in the Carriers and attack.

Review of the Weeks Events - Obama vs. Cheney

Hear a discussion from NPR on the weeks top events.

Obama vs. Cheney is the focus. Why are the major media outlets even giving Cheney (a disgraced VP) equal billing with the President?

And as for Obama.... i'll discuss that later. But he has created a mess for himself.

Listen Here

A Discussion about Dick Cheney and His Efforts to Make Obama The Fall Guy

NPR had a great discussion about Tricky Dick II last week and his efforts to turn the tables in the torture debate. Dick Cheney has been on a media blitz lately on behalf of the Republican Party (and in an effort to cover his own rear end). His aim seems to be to argue that tough interrogation techniques (torture) worked and therefore were justified. He is also attempting to use fear (although I don't think it's working this time) to support his argument. He keeps repeating the argument that getting rid of "enhanced interrogation techniques" will put the U.S. at serious risk of another terrorist attack. Although none of the top experts and national security officials (National Security Adviser Jones, DNI Blair, the CIA Director, nor the Joint Chiefs Chairman) believe that changing the interrogation process will increase the risk of another 9/11. Even if there were another attack...it isn't even remotely likely that it could be tied to the change in interrogation rules. But by using this argument, Cheney's goal seems to be to set Obama up for blame if another terrorist attack takes place under the new Administration. In other words... he is hoping to use another terrorist attack as a way to breathe new life into the Republican Party. Sickening stuff!

Listen to Discussion

The Truth About Torture

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When Did Torture and Gay Marriage Become National Priorities?

In case you haven't noticed, Ultra-Liberals have been able to hijack the wider Progressive agenda over the last few weeks.

The Obama Administration clearly misjudged the response to the release of the torture memo's and the release of more abuse pictures from years ago (another gift wrapped present from Obama to the GOP). Yes, some of these memo's and photos were preemptively released because of a Civil Court challenge from the ACLU, but not all of it had to be released. And Obama & Co. should have been better prepared for the PR battle that they should have known would be started from the release of this information. Obama has allowed the far Left Liberal wing of the Democratic Party to hijack his Presidency and his agenda.....at least when it comes to torture. How did torture and Gay marriage become national priorities? He has now created a whirlwind that could possibly overshadow the rest of his initiatives. He thought that he would be able to just "move on" and he miscalculated just how much "torture" and releasing everything that Ulra-Liberals are telling him to would cost him.

If Obama ends up having criminal trials...the circus atmosphere will be huge. I supported indictments and arrests earlier on...when the crimes were still in progress.... but two Congress's allowed the criminals to get away... They blew it. There is nothing to be gained now by having a circus...except attempting to show the World that there is justice in the American system and attempting to regain some sort of moral high ground. But going into Iraq in the first place was the big mistake... that's where this Country lost its moral footing.... the torture was a afterthought. I say... let's have a Truth Commission to investigate all of the Bush/Cheney dirty deeds...not just torture. But criminal show trials at this stage in the game will not help Obama... in fact, it will have the opposite effect.
Obama misjudged the Torture issue and what is on the minds of the American public, just like Republicans misjudged the phony Tea Parties, and how they should remake their Party (making it the Confederate Party).

I'm not suggesting that Torture and Gay Marriage aren't important issues, I am stating that these are not the issues that most Americans are concerned with.

Up until earlier this week, Obama had basically lost control of the torture issue and his agenda. The torture memo's and abuse pictures had taken on a life of their own. Somehow he allowed Liberals in his own Party to hijack his agenda.

Obama can thank Arlen Specter and Swine Flu for providing a reprieve. The ball is back in his Court... he can either get his agenda back on track or continue with the self-inflicted wounds.

Olbermann Calls Out Sean Hannity: $1000 For Every Second Of Waterboarding

Soon-to-be FORMER Fox Anchor Shep Smith on the USA and Torture

Oh yeah. He's gone. But, what a way to go.

Liz Cheney Tries to Defend Daddy Dick

Part 1


Part 2



My response: Arrest that no-good-mofo TODAY.

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the Released Torture Papers

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Now It's Out in the Open -- the U.S. Tortures

U.S. Acknowledges Use of Waterboarding
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats demanded a criminal investigation into waterboarding by government interrogators Tuesday after the Bush administration acknowledged for the first time that the tactic was used on three terror suspects.

In congressional testimony Tuesday, CIA Director Michael Hayden became the first administration official to publicly acknowledge the agency used waterboarding on detainees following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Waterboarding involves strapping a suspect down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create the sensation of drowning. It has been traced back hundreds of years, to the Spanish Inquisition, and is condemned by nations around the world.

Read the full article

At first the Bush administration denied it -- the U.S. does not use torture. Now it's finally out in the open -- it does.

What's sad about this is there's a segment of the population that will be all for this and won't find anything wrong with it at all. They will protest that the use of torture is a necessary tool in the War on Terror against enemies who would have no hesitations in using similar or worse methods on U.S. soldiers.

Human rights, international law, and the basic identity of the U.S. as a bastion of freedom, democracy, and rule of law be damned. Tacit approval of this, of course, is done on the assumption that it won't be them or their family member who will be on the receiving end of such treatment.

The last time I heard Bush considered himself a born-again Christian. Somehow I can't see a way to reconcile Christian ideals and values with torture and waterboarding.

Former CIA Officer Reveals Waterboarding Was OK'd From Top

Ex-CIA Officer John Kiriakou has not only revealed that waterboarding was used against Terror suspects & that he believed it to be "torture" (See Video Report), but he also says that the technique was OK'd at the highest levels of the government- The White House.

From The Times Online (UK):

The CIA's use of waterboarding to torture terror suspects was approved by the White House, a former agency official claimed yesterday. The accusation comes amid growing uproar over the destruction of videotapes showing the interrogation of al-Qaeda members.

John Kiriakou, the former agent, said that the waterboarding of Abu Zubaida — the first senior al-Qaeda operative captured after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 — broke him in less than 35 seconds, and “probably saved lives”.

The harsh interrogation technique, which critics — and Mr Kiriakou — say is torture, was approved at the highest levels of the US Government, said Mr Kiriakou, who led the team that captured Zubaida.

Referring to the waterboarding of Zubaida — a technique that simulates drowning — Mr Kiriakou told the NBC TV station: “This isn't something done willy-nilly. This isn't something where an agency officer just wakes up in the morning and decides he's going to carry out an enhanced technique on a prisoner.

“This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and the Justice Department.”

But why has he come forward now? Is Kiriakou being used to "soften the blow" so to speak, for information that was going to eventually come to light anyway? And just how valuable was the information which was extracted using this technique?

Slate examines Kiriakou's "coming out":

At the Carpetbagger Report, Steve Benen breaks down Kiriakou's disclosure: "As a matter of crass politics, Kiriakou's assessment seems to offer a little something for everyone. For the right, Kiriakou is saying that torture produced intelligence that saved lives and thwarted possible attacks. For the left, Kiriakou is conceding that the Bush administration authorized and utilized torture (i.e., committed a felony), and he now believes the U.S. should stop using these 'enhanced interrogation techniques.'

"Kiriakou is now the first official to acknowledge the use of waterboarding on any detainee in CIA custody," says Spencer Ackerman of TPM Muckraker. "But his account of Abu Zubaydah's intelligence value contradicts Ron Suskind's 2006 book The One Percent Doctrine, which reported that Abu Zubaydah was borderline retarded and didn't have more than minor, tactical information about al-Qaeda." Washington Monthly's Political Animal Kevin Drum also points out the Suskind/Kiriakou discrepancy.

Meanwhile CIA Chief Michael Hayden was called into a closed door hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee today to answer questions about the debacle. And more hearings are planned.


But are the members of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees being honest or are they just doing this for window dressing? Hayden says that the Committees were notified about the tapes and about the enhanced interrogation techniques in secret briefings. Now they are claiming that they were never told. This may be a case where they are making a choice between their political careers and sacrificing officers at the CIA. And to a politician in Washington D.C.... that's an easy choice. If they have to, they are going to throw Hayden (who wasn't even there at the time of the secret briefings) and other Intelligence officials to the Wolves.

I'm not yet convinced that this case will even come to that for either side. Unless an Independent Counsel is requested, it is unlikely that we will see any serious charges brought as a result of this case. Neither Democrats nor Republicans are calling for and Independent Counsel just yet.

Democrats Want Probe of CIA After Tapes Are Destroyed

The Democrats are calling for hearings & investigations after the CIA revealed that interrogation tapes had been destroyed, apparently after a judge ruled that the items should have been kept as evidence. The tapes may have revealed whether waterboarding or other forms of torture were being used on "terror suspects".

But the CIA has a mandate to protect State secrets, including their sources and methods for gathering intelligence. They destroy items all the time in an effort to maintain secrets, classified information, etc. I predict that the Democrats in Congress will have a hard time making the case that anyone should be punished. Not much has come from their previous investigations and hearings, and I can't see much coming out of this case either.

But on the other hand, the CIA is not completely free to get rid of material that may be important to an investigation. But based on how the other egregious acts by this administration have been handled, I just don't see this case as having much traction. It may have legs...but not very long ones. The only way that this case might gain any real traction is if investigations or hearings lead to more revelations of illegal and unethical activity.

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on Waterboarding

On point, as usual.

Olbermann: On waterboarding and torture
Olbermann: Bush may not observe the rules, but the country abides by them
SPECIAL COMMENT
By Keith Olbermann
Anchor, 'Countdown'
updated 8:42 p.m. CT, Mon., Nov. 5, 2007

It is a fact startling in its cynical simplicity and it requires cynical and simple words to be properly expressed: The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.

All the petulancy, all the childish threats, all the blank-stare stupidity; all the invocations of World War III, all the sophistic questions about which terrorist attacks we wanted him not to stop, all the phony secrets; all the claims of executive privilege, all the stumbling tap-dancing of his nominees, all the verbal flatulence of his apologists...

All of it is now, after one revelation last week, transparently clear for what it is: the pathetic and desperate manipulation of the government, the refocusing of our entire nation, toward keeping this mock president and this unstable vice president and this departed wildly self-overrating attorney general, and the others, from potential prosecution for having approved or ordered the illegal torture of prisoners being held in the name of this country.

"Waterboarding is torture," Daniel Levin was to write. Daniel Levin was no theorist and no protester. He was no troublemaking politician. He was no table-pounding commentator. Daniel Levin was an astonishingly patriotic American and a brave man.

Brave not just with words or with stances, even in a dark time when that kind of bravery can usually be scared or bought off.

Charged, as you heard in the story from ABC News last Friday, with assessing the relative legality of the various nightmares in the Pandora's box that is the Orwell-worthy euphemism "Enhanced Interrogation," Mr. Levin decided that the simplest, and the most honest, way to evaluate them ... was to have them enacted upon himself.

Daniel Levin took himself to a military base and let himself be waterboarded.

Mr. Bush, ever done anything that personally courageous?

Perhaps when you've gone to Walter Reed and teared up over the maimed servicemen? And then gone back to the White House and determined that there would be more maimed servicemen?

Has it been that kind of personal courage, Mr. Bush, when you've spoken of American victims and the triumph of freedom and the sacrifice of your own popularity for the sake of our safety? And then permitted others to fire or discredit or destroy anybody who disagreed with you, whether they were your own generals, or Max Cleland, or Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, or Daniel Levin?

Daniel Levin should have a statue in his honor in Washington right now.

Instead, he was forced out as acting assistant attorney general nearly three years ago because he had the guts to do what George Bush couldn't do in a million years: actually put himself at risk for the sake of his country, for the sake of what is right.

And they waterboarded him. And he wrote that even though he knew those doing it meant him no harm, and he knew they would rescue him at the instant of the slightest distress, and he knew he would not die — still, with all that reassurance, he could not stop the terror screaming from inside of him, could not quell the horror, could not convince that which is at the core of each of us, the entity who exists behind all the embellishments we strap to ourselves, like purpose and name and family and love, he could not convince his being that he wasn't drowning.

Waterboarding, he said, is torture. Legally, it is torture! Practically, it is torture! Ethically, it is torture! And he wrote it down.

Wrote it down somewhere, where it could be contrasted with the words of this country's 43rd president: "The United States of America ... does not torture."

Made you into a liar, Mr. Bush.

Made you into, if anybody had the guts to pursue it, a criminal, Mr. Bush.

Waterboarding had already been used on Khalid Sheik Mohammed and a couple of other men none of us really care about except for the one detail you'd forgotten — that there are rules. And even if we just make up these rules, this country observes them anyway, because we're Americans and we're better than that.

We're better than you.

And the man your Justice Department selected to decide whether or not waterboarding was torture had decided, and not in some phony academic fashion, nor while wearing the Walter Mitty poseur attire of flight suit and helmet.

He had put his money, Mr. Bush, where your mouth was.

So, your sleazy sycophantic henchman Mr. Gonzales had him append an asterisk suggesting his black-and-white answer wasn't black-and-white, that there might have been a quasi-legal way of torturing people, maybe with an absolute time limit and a physician entitled to stop it, maybe, if your administration had ever bothered to set any rules or any guidelines.

And then when your people realized that even that was too dangerous, Daniel Levin was branded "too independent" and "someone who could (not) be counted on."

In other words, Mr. Bush, somebody you couldn't count on to lie for you.

So, Levin was fired.

Because if it ever got out what he'd concluded, and the lengths to which he went to validate that conclusion, anybody who had sanctioned waterboarding and who-knows-what-else on anybody, you yourself, you would have been screwed.

And screwed you are.

It can't be coincidence that the story of Daniel Levin should emerge from the black hole of this secret society of a presidency just at the conclusion of the unhappy saga of the newest attorney general nominee.

Another patriot somewhere listened as Judge Mukasey mumbled like he'd never heard of waterboarding and refused to answer in words … that which Daniel Levin answered on a waterboard somewhere in Maryland or Virginia three years ago.

And this someone also heard George Bush say, "The United States of America does not torture," and realized either he was lying or this wasn't the United States of America anymore, and either way, he needed to do something about it.

Not in the way Levin needed to do something about it, but in a brave way nonetheless.

We have U.S. senators who need to do something about it, too.

Chairman Leahy of the Judiciary Committee has seen this for what it is and said "enough."

Sen. Schumer has seen it, reportedly, as some kind of puzzle piece in the New York political patronage system, and he has failed.

What Sen. Feinstein has seen, to justify joining Schumer in rubber-stamping Mukasey, I cannot guess.

It is obvious that both those senators should look to the meaning of the story of Daniel Levin and recant their support for Mukasey's confirmation.

And they should look into their own committee's history and recall that in 1973, their predecessors were able to wring even from Richard Nixon a guarantee of a special prosecutor (ultimately a special prosecutor of Richard Nixon!), in exchange for their approval of his new attorney general, Elliott Richardson.

If they could get that out of Nixon, before you confirm the president's latest human echo on Tuesday, you had better be able to get a "yes" or a "no" out of Michael Mukasey.

Ideally you should lock this government down financially until a special prosecutor is appointed, or 50 of them, but I'm not holding my breath. The "yes" or the "no" on waterboarding will have to suffice.

Because, remember, if you can't get it, or you won't with the time between tonight and the next presidential election likely to be the longest year of our lives, you are leaving this country, and all of us, to the waterboards, symbolic and otherwise, of George W. Bush.

Ultimately, Mr. Bush, the real question isn't who approved the waterboarding of this fiend Khalid Sheik Mohammed and two others.

It is: Why were they waterboarded?

Study after study for generation after generation has confirmed that torture gets people to talk, torture gets people to plead, torture gets people to break, but torture does not get them to tell the truth.

Of course, Mr. Bush, this isn't a problem if you don't care if the terrorist plots they tell you about are the truth or just something to stop the tormentors from drowning them.

If, say, a president simply needed a constant supply of terrorist threats to keep a country scared.

If, say, he needed phony plots to play hero during, and to boast about interrupting, and to use to distract people from the threat he didn't interrupt.

If, say, he realized that even terrorized people still need good ghost stories before they will let a president pillage the Constitution,

Well, Mr. Bush, who better to dream them up for you than an actual terrorist?

He'll tell you everything he ever fantasized doing in his most horrific of daydreams, his equivalent of the day you "flew" onto the deck of the Lincoln to explain you'd won in Iraq.

Now if that's what this is all about, you tortured not because you're so stupid you think torture produces confession but you tortured because you're smart enough to know it produces really authentic-sounding fiction — well, then, you're going to need all the lawyers you can find … because that crime wouldn't just mean impeachment, would it?

That crime would mean George W. Bush is going to prison.

Thus the master tumblers turn, and the lock yields, and the hidden explanations can all be perceived, in their exact proportions, in their exact progressions.

Daniel Levin's eminently practical, eminently logical, eminently patriotic way of testing the legality of waterboarding has to vanish, and him with it.

Thus Alberto Gonzales has to use that brain that sounds like an old car trying to start on a freezing morning to undo eight centuries of the forward march of law and government.

Thus Dick Cheney has to ridiculously assert that confirming we do or do not use any particular interrogation technique would somehow help the terrorists.

Thus Michael Mukasey, on the eve of the vote that will make him the high priest of the law of this land, cannot and must not answer a question, nor even hint that he has thought about a question, which merely concerns the theoretical definition of waterboarding as torture.

Because, Mr. Bush, in the seven years of your nightmare presidency, this whole string of events has been transformed.

From its beginning as the most neglectful protection ever of the lives and safety of the American people ... into the most efficient and cynical exploitation of tragedy for political gain in this country's history ... and, then, to the giddying prospect that you could do what the military fanatics did in Japan in the 1930s and remake a nation into a fascist state so efficient and so self-sustaining that the fascism would be nearly invisible.

But at last this frightful plan is ending with an unexpected crash, the shocking reality that no matter how thoroughly you might try to extinguish them, Mr. Bush, how thoroughly you tried to brand disagreement as disloyalty, Mr. Bush, there are still people like Daniel Levin who believe in the United States of America as true freedom, where we are better, not because of schemes and wars, but because of dreams and morals.

And ultimately these men, these patriots, will defeat you and they will return this country to its righteous standards, and to its rightful owners, the people.

Barbaric Torture

Back in January 27, 2005, Bush, in an interview with the Times, assured the world that “torture is never acceptable, nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture.”

Well it looks like the Bush administration has allowed many of our soldiers to become (and/or continue) to be, uncivilized, brutal, cruel, and barbaric towards the people of Iraq.

WaPo reports many soldiers support torture, U.S. Troops Lacking in Ethics with many soldiers supporting torture and other forms of abuse against Iraqi civilians. An Army report also indicates our troops face higher rates of mental illness due to longer deployments.

I guess the United States under the Bush administration has no problem having our soldiers torture and kill non-combatants as a strategy in war. One has to wonder if the "mass killing" and "civilian victimizations" attributed to insurgents is American driven?

Your thoughts?

African American Political Pundit is a regular contributor to Mirror On America