I finally figured out why I am not terribly shocked at the torture stories.

[hedgehog]

I've been reading for years about the US government sponsoring surrogates to do the torture. Negroponte was good at that down in Central America. Don't forget our involvement in overthrowing the government in Chile. I couldn't swear to our involvement in Argentina's dirty war. There was a lot of torture that went on in Vietnam that we never stopped. Of course, the School of the Americas has been turning out some of the finest torturers in the world for years. The only difference now is that we aren't subbing out torture anymore but doing it ourselves. I wonder when we will notice the disappearances?

[OneBlueSky]

1. the first rule for officials planning to do something illegal is . . .

to insulate yourself, i.e. making sure the illegal action can't be traced back to you . . . thus the middle men -- and the more the better . . . surrogates for torture, surrogates for stealing elections, surrogates for attacking the country on 9/11 -- surrogates for pretty much anything and everything shady, immoral, unethical, and/or illegal (and, as we know, there's a plethora) . . .

ensuring "plausable deniability" is an art form that BushCo has refined and perfected quite, well, perfectly . . .

but lying -- which is what this is -- can only win the day for so long . . . eventually, truth will prevail, and deniability will no longer be plausable . . .

that day of reckoning is rapidly approaching . . .

Thank God . . .

(or Gods . . or Creation . . . or The Universe . . . or The Sun . . . or The Earth . . . or The Flying Spaghetti Monster -- whatever gets you through the day) . . .