Now, The Times shows a history of how the torture came about. And not because they needed info. The history started about a couple of months after 9/11.
"In a series of high-level meetings in 2002, without a single dissent from cabinet members or lawmakers, the United States for the first time officially embraced the brutal methods of interrogation it had always condemned."
No one stopped to say "Hey, maybe this is illegal or immoral or just wrong."
Then there's the stupidity of the players:
"They did not know that some veteran trainers from the SERE program itself had warned in internal memorandums that, morality aside, the methods were ineffective. Nor were most of the officials aware that the former military psychologist who played a central role in persuading C.I.A. officials to use the harsh methods had never conducted a real interrogation, or that the Justice Department lawyer most responsible for declaring the methods legal had idiosyncratic ideas that even the Bush Justice Department would later renounce.
The process was 'a perfect storm of ignorance and enthusiasm,' a former C.I.A. official said."
Obama needs to have an independent investigation into this whole thing. He NEEDS to clean the closet on this one and many others. I hope this investigation will spill over into an investigation into wire tapping as well.
