Thomas Friedman had a column a couple of days back talking about how unsatisfactory is was that the crimes that were perpetrates will go unpunished. While I generally agree with this I also agree with his subsequent assessment of the nature of the enemy and how the episode has concluded (for the moment I expect).
- see link below
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/op...9friedman.html
While I was not a Bush supporter (and obviously that doesnt matter if I dont vote) I think that it is fair to say, based upon the revelations of those who were involved in or traced the evolution of the torture justifications, that Bush, and other senior official were mislead about the nature of the 'enhanced interrogation techniques' by the proponents of torture. In particular the poorly constructed and researched 'justifications'.
I also think that this the inevitable consequence of surrounding yourself with sycophantic ideologues and failing to have enough of an inquiring mind when presented with options that are contrary to 30 years worth of publicly available research and generally accepted truths (i.e. torture doesnt work).
It was well intentioned stupidity.
LoBelly