Footnote to all of the preceding, Names in the News Div.

Stephen Hadley. Stephen Hadley. Where else have I heard that name just recently? Oh, yes, I remember, he was the one who just on Sunday refused to rule out the official use of torture,

arguing the war on terror could present a "difficult dilemma" and the US administration was duty-bound to protect the American people. ...

During a trip to Panama earlier this month, President George W. Bush said that Americans "do not torture."

But appearing on CNN's "Late Edition" program, Hadley elaborated on the policy, making clear the White House could envisage circumstances, in which the broad pledge not to torture might not apply.

In other words, we don't torture - unless we do.

It's worth noting in the same speech cited below, Lawrence Wilkerson also said that

officials in the Pentagon and in Cheney's office "really pushed the envelope" on permitting harsh interrogations and treatment of prisoners. Wilkerson recounted how military lawyers who opposed a series of guidelines allowing harsh interrogation techniques were silenced, and how he found out instances of two detainees who died in American facilities in Afghanistan as early as December 2002. The deaths, he said, were only confirmed by the Pentagon earlier this year.

Wilkerson asserted that the US is holding "some 25,000 prisoners and among them maybe 100 real terrorists."

But for the Safety Of Us All and for the protection of the purity and essence of our natural fluids, we dare not limit the president's unlimited authority! Disaster awaits any other course!

Of course, we've already seen where that kind of thinking will lead. I can't imagine why anyone would need a further demonstration - and happily, even the US Senate seems to agree, at least on the matter of torture.