The Continuing Torture Saga

As I noted in my last post, the issue of torture is getting a lot of press attention. Moreover, it may be sucking some of the air out of other Obama administration initiatives. I'm not sure how serious this matter is, but I note that another Slate contributor, Ben Whitford this time, can't resist using "torture" in the title of his summary of the news for April 18. Again, there's a link to Mr. Whitford's piece under the title to this post.

The key paragraph here is this one:

An already-cooperative al-Qaida prisoner, initially believed to be a senior leader but later determined to be merely a personnel clerk, was water-boarded, slammed against walls, confined in boxes, and deprived of food, despite his captors' belief that he knew nothing of further value, reports the NYT. An official involved in the interrogation said the treatment, carried out on direct orders from CIA headquarters, plunged the prisoner into the "depths of human misery and degradation" but produced no new breakthroughs. "He pleaded for his life," the official said. "But he gave up no new information. He had no more information to give."

One of the things that is going to become a theme here is that the torture didn't result in any significant results. The government is denying that, and asserting that useful information was obtained, but they are handicapped by two things: 1) public skepticism about self-serving statements by government agencies, and 2) their inability to publish a lot of the intelligence that would support their case.