Mukasey's rending revelation this week that the USG may have had Pearl Harbor-like intercepts about 9/11 overshadowed General Hayden's comments on the weekend.
Hayden doesn't need "torture", he says; therefore he appears to answer honestly that he doesn't know what Justice thinks about the issues that were decided in memos because he hasn't asked lately.
The run-around is this: The CIA wouldn't do anything today without following 'the process', which involves getting a (new?) greenlight from Justice and The President, and neither Justice nor the President would do what they did before because things have changed (presumably a reference to the military commissions act or something) and, afterall, only three persons were ever waterboarded anyway.
What a breathtaking request for trust from the public.
Until the courts have ruled on DOJ 'opinions', the idea that this Executive would be restrained by the Justice department is implausible. All that might be needed is a change in circumstances to have them all change their tune, right?
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Hayden's Circular Logic and End Run
