Ever since Americans learned that American soldiers and intelligence agents were torturing prisoners, there has been a disturbing question: How high
up did the decision go to ignore United States law, international treaties, the Geneva Conventions and basic morality?
The answer, we have learned recently, is that — with President Bush’s clear knowledge and support — some of the very highest officials in the
land not only approved the abuse of prisoners, but participated in the detailed planning of harsh interrogations and helped to create a legal
structure to shield from justice those who followed the orders.
......recent accounts by ABC News and The Associated Press said that all of the president’s top national security advisers at the time participated
in creating the interrogation policy: Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Rumsfeld; Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser; Colin Powell, the
secretary of state; John Ashcroft, the attorney general; and George Tenet, the director of central intelligence.
These officials did not have the time or the foresight to plan for the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq or the tenacity to complete the hunt for
Osama bin Laden. But they managed to squeeze in dozens of meetings in the White House Situation Room to organize and give legal cover to prisoner
abuse, including brutal methods that civilized nations consider to be torture.
Bush told ABC News that he knew all along and he gave the green light.
The CIA's torture program is unacceptable. If you say that this is acceptable, where do you draw the line? Are we going to strap grandma to the
waterboard because we believe her son is a murderer and she knows where he is?
