Peter’s Blog

Condoleezza Rice Must GO

You can make a good argument that most senior members of the Bush Administration are war criminals. It’s small consolation that Alberto Gonzales can’t get a job.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bush vetoes interrogation limits

US President George Bush says he has vetoed legislation that would stop the CIA using interrogation methods such as simulated drowning or “water-boarding”.

Classy move, George.

Guantánamo, the image and the reality - International Herald Tribune

But in popular culture, the debate about Guantánamo is largely over, as suggested by a look at a growing number of novels, nonfiction books, movies, plays and other forms of expression.

“Whether it’s America’s Devil’s Island or not, that’s how people are going to keep thinking about it,” said Dan Fesperman, a former Baltimore Sun reporter who set his 2006 mystery novel “The Prisoner of Guantánamo” at the base.

The NY Times story on the CIA tapes had this interesting note:

The CIA has said that the Justice Department and other elements of the executive branch reviewed and approved the use of a set of harsh techniques before they were used on any prisoners, and that the Justice Department issued a classified legal opinion in August 2002 that provided explicit authorization for their use.

Since when do Justice Departments issue secret rulings? I thought the whole point of the rule of law, from the Code of Hammurabi on down, is that the laws are public. But I guess that’s pre-9/11 thinking for you.