…while most of Hayden’s and Mukasey’s arguments are juuust a little bit shakey (after all, if I’m training my minions how to resist torture, I’m going to train them to sing like birds about every sort of hare-brained fictitious terrorist plot they can think of to avoid torture, not to be tough guys who resist it), one of their final ‘points’ is actually funny, in a twisted sort of way. If people at the OLC don’t want to be slapped around by “public and partisan criticism”, they should probably issue legal opinions that have some vague foundation in law and reality, rather than just making crap up…

“It’s damaging because these are techniques that work, and by Obama’s action today, we are telling the terrorists what they are,” the official said. “We have laid it all out for our enemies. This is totally unnecessary. … Publicizing the techniques does grave damage to our national security by ensuring they can never be used again — even in a ticking-time- bomb scenario where thousands or even millions of American lives are at stake.”

This guy pointed a gun at me once, but as soon as he SAID he was going to shoot me I became impervious to bullets.

“justice, truth, and the value of a single human being”

Anonymous.

“Hi, this is Politico. We were wondering, if it’s not too much trouble, could we get you to not go on the record saying Obama is selling us out to terrorists? You know, just for balance. Really?! Oh, that’s great!”

it must be that he thinks either 1. the previous administration, including the CIA professionals who have defended this program, is lying about its importance and effectiveness,

Ding ding ding! We have a winner.

“I don’t believe Obama would intentionally endanger the nation, so it must be that he thinks either 1. the previous administration, including the CIA professionals who have defended this program, is lying about its importance and effectiveness,…

Hells bells, I know the Bush administration was lying, not only about torture but every time their mouths opened. Does a republican really want to go there?

So the think the terrorists don’t have tevees? Since they got all their ideas from Jack Bauer and 24, as TBogg points out, how can the details suddenly be state secrets?

Oh and haven’t some of the guys who were detained described how they were tortured? Not to mention the pictures?

I believe that 1) the anonymous Bush staffer has no moral compass, 2) he is an ill informed jackass (since we know torture does not work), 3) he is scared of a really long prison sentence.

“It’s damaging because these are techniques that work…”

Now that you’ve admitted culpability, here’s a technique that works: prosecution, conviction, and prison. And not Club Fed either, but one of those Bubba-populated jails.

I expect this “high ranking official” would cry in his teabags if he had to face jail time, much less one of the tortures he’s so fond of.

Like with Yoo, I say air drop this shit over the Middle East in an insect-filled coffin. In a parachute. He can explain his reasons to the people on the ground.

Yes, indeed, Anonynmous Bush Staffer can bite my hairy white ass.

It’s damaging because these are techniques that work..

Um, no. Actually, they don’t. So the premise of your argument, Mr. Anonymouse, is full of fail.

Not that they’d be defensible even if they did work. But they don’t, so the effort these sadistic twits put into justifying them is inexplicable; there’s no benefit to torturing someone, regardless of whether they know anything or not.

Except, I guess, if you’re a sadist, so I guess I’ve answered my own question. Assholes.

“It’s damaging because these are techniques that work, and by Obama’s action today, we are telling the terrorists what they are,” the official said. “We have laid it all out for our enemies.

“Sir, you can’t let him in here. He’ll see everything. He’ll see the big board!” – Gen. Buck Turgidson, “Dr. Strangelove”

Mike Allen can go fuck himself too.

Now we can see the current state of GOP morality.

Foul language on a blog is considered objectionable.

Stripping humans, abusing them physically and mentally is not.

Rotten to the core.

-G

The Bush administration: Sadists from top to bottom.

Actually, I disagree. A sadist relishes the pain of another, to the Bushies, these are non-entities. They are a means for retaining their own power and making money, nothing more, nothing less. Torture is a way to further that goal.

Sociopath, sure, but sadist? That’s giving them too much credit.

Publicizing the techniques does grave damage to our national security by ensuring they can never be used again — even in a ticking-time-bomb scenario where thousands or even millions of American lives are at stake.”

I know where there are lots of ticking-time-bombs. They are in TV and movie plots. If there were really, truly one in the real, true world would anyone be worried about laws? Wouldn’t the interrogators just commence snipping parts with shears instead of going through elaborate, byzantine tortures that are supposed to stop short of organ failure?

But they’d have to be very, very sure that they had the right person, wouldn’t they? Very, very sure that the prisoner wasn’t an innocent farmer whose neighbor turned him in as a terrorists because he wanted his land.

The “former top official” failed include point 3: we were lying through our teeth from the get-go but we hoped we’d continue to get away with it; it’s very, very mean of you to say so.”

When you enter the “you think I’m lying” phase of the grade school playground argument, you have only two possible outs: the other kids will say, “Oh, shit, who wants to beat the crap out of that asshole?” or everyone will go, “Shit, this creep isn’t worth the sweat to make him eat his own balls.” I can’t decide if Obama is taking option 1 or option 2. But I can say he’s playing by the asshole’s rules. Otherwise, he’d be all, “OK, here’s the shit you crapped, now you get to eat it.” He’s not, and that means something very, very important about the future of moralty and justice in this country.

Like, you should go look for it in the cineplex, ‘cuz it ain’t downtown.