A New Low, Even for Them?

A long article in yesterday's Washington Post discusses the torture of Abu Zubaida, publically alleged by the Bush administration to be a high-ranking Al Quaeda member:

"In the end, though, not a single significant plot was foiled as a result of Abu Zubaida's tortured confessions, according to former senior government officials who closely followed the interrogations. Nearly all of the leads attained through the harsh measures quickly evaporated, while most of the useful information from Abu Zubaida -- chiefly names of al-Qaeda members and associates -- was obtained before waterboarding was introduced, they said.

Moreover, within weeks of his capture, U.S. officials had gained evidence that made clear they had misjudged Abu Zubaida. President George W. Bush had publicly described him as "al-Qaeda's chief of operations," and other top officials called him a "trusted associate" of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and a major figure in the planning of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. None of that was accurate, the new evidence showed."

There has been a lot of talk about why the Bush administration continued its loathesome tactics even though everyone knew that torture leads to virtually nothing but forced confessions.

I want to suggest that, despite the immense cynicism with which we look at the Bush administration, that most people haven't even begun to grasp the depths of depravity to be seen here.

Can it be the case that Bush and Cheney employed torture not DESPITE its production of false confessions, but BECAUSE it produces false confessions?

As the lying justifications which led our country into war began unravel, Bush and Cheney had to produce evidence that they had acted appropriately. Bush is quoted as having said to George Tenet about Abu Zubaida: "'I said he was important,' Bush said to Tenet at one of their daily meetings. 'You're not going to let me lose face on this, are you?"

Was all of the torture a deliberate attempt to manufacture false information to mask the Bush Administration's colossal failure in the mideast? Given what we know now, it certainly wouldn't have been beneath them. I suspect that they tortured their captives with the intent to produce false confessions, these confessions serving no purpose other than to obscure their own guilt- an abomination without any sort of justification at all.

I can't prove this now. Let's see what happens if all the information becomes public


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