As I mentioned earlier, the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the CIA's use of torture after 9/11 was released today, in part. I've been reading through some of it, and it is indescribably heinous.
I don't have a whole lot of new commentary to offer: There are only so many ways you can say that torture is vile. Torture is vile. Torture is vile. Torture is vile. And lying about it is reprehensible. And not holding people accountable for it is shameful. And promulgating rank lies about its efficacy to justify torture is inexcusable.
I do want to pass on a couple of pieces of recommended reading, and open up a dedicated thread for discussion.
Anthony Romero, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, suggests that President Obama pardon former President George W. Bush and the architects of his administration's torture policy, because it may be the only way to permanently record that what they did was illegal. Romero may well be right: This is how far away we are from actual accountability. [Via Digby.]
Igor Volsky details the five most damning revelations from the report.
And Meredith Clark reports on President Obama's statements upon the release of the report, during which he actually said these actual words: "We tortured some folks. ...I understand why it happened. I think it's important, when we look back, to recall how afraid people were when the twin towers fell. ...It's important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job those folks had." Jesus.
Meanwhile, former President George W. Bush, who oversaw this reign of inhumane fuckery, is probably off somewhere painting a picture of a buttplug he's mistaken for a tiny tree.
Speaking of that asshole, among the many disturbing revelations from the report is this:
Insert here all the jokes about what a dunderhead the former president is. But I strongly suspect that this is yet another instance in which Bush and his administration will rely on our (understandable) impressions of the former president as a doofus, in order that we might not notice the shrewd request cloaked in his aww-shucks reputation to legally distance himself from war crimes.
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