The Torture Cabal

Ever since the Abu Ghraib scandal broke in 2004, the White House has always insisted that any torture or abuse was done by "bad apples" who ignored orders. And in dribs and drabs, evidence has come to light saying just the opposite, that it was and is official policy to torture prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. Last week, the White House finally released the infamous "torture memo," in which Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo took eighty-one remarkably bloodless pages to detail how the president has unlimited power to order suspects tortured.

And now, ABC News is reporting that an inner circle in the White House was deeply involved in this sordid process. This "torture cabal" consisted of:

• Vice President Dick Cheney
• National Security Advisor (now Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice
• Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
• Secretary of State Colin Powell
• CIA Director George Tenet
• Attorney General John Ashcroft

Together, they and/or their deputies met numerous times to determine which "enhanced interrogation techniques" (a phrase which, in a particularly bitter historical irony, was invented by the Nazis) to use on which suspects, often in a grotesque choreography. Should Prisoner A be beaten, waterboarded or both? How long should Prisoner B be left in a freezing-cold cell? How many times should Prisoner C be hit? Many torture sessions were pre-scripted in this way.

Aschroft, who likes to call himself a devout Christian, was reportedly disturbed by the meetings, but not because they concerned torture. Rather, he was dismayed that he had to get his hands dirty. "Why are we talking about this in the White House?" he is said to have exclaimed after one meeting. "History will not judge this kindly."

That's putting it mildly. Torture is illegal under American and international law, and by actively planning the torture of prisoners, it seems the Administration's top leaders have opened themselves up to war-crimes charges.

It remains to be seen whether anything will be done about it.