Torture

AP/Jae C. Hong

Would you trust this clown to decide whether it was appropriate for the US government to torture you? (Remember, he's the guy who mocked Karla Fay Tucker's clemency bid, "Don't kill me!") Via Froomkin:

Olivier Knox writes for AFP: "The United States may use waterboarding to question terrorism suspects in the future, the White House said Wednesday, rejecting the widely held belief that the practice amounts to torture.

"'It will depend upon circumstances,' spokesman Tony Fratto said, adding 'the belief that an attack might be imminent, that could be a circumstance that you would definitely want to consider.'

"'The president will listen to the considered judgment of the professionals in the intelligence community and the judgment of the attorney general in terms of the legal consequences of employing a particular technique,' he said.

snip

Knox writes that Fratto "rejected charges that the tactics the Central Intelligence Agency calls 'enhanced interrogation techniques' amount to torture.

"'Torture is illegal. Every enhanced technique that has been used by the Central Intelligence Agency through this program was brought to the Department of Justice and they made a determination that its use under specific circumstances and with safeguards was lawful,' he said."

And here's the kicker: "Asked whether the White House's reasoning was that torture is illegal, the attorney general has certified that the interrogation practices are legal, therefore those practices are not torture, Fratto replied: 'Sure.'"

Great. We just publicly admitted that we commit crimes in contravention against signed treaties.

Okay, Speaker Pelosi. The ball is in your court. The president's spokesman just said that we commit torture, and that the president signs off on it.

Time to impeach. End of story.