We all knew this had to happen sooner or later, and it looks like the White House wants to put this issue to bed once and for all.

From Wash Post:

Government officials familiar with the CIA’s early interrogations say the most powerful evidence of apparent excesses is contained in the “top secret” May 7, 2004, inspector general report, based on more than 100 interviews, a review of the videotapes and 38,000 pages of documents.

The full report remains closely held, although White House officials have told political allies that they intend to declassify it for public release when the debate quiets over last month’s release of the Justice Department’s interrogation memos…

Although some useful information was produced, the report concluded that “it is difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations have provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks,” according to the Justice Department’s declassified summary of it.

And let’s note the date when this was finished: May 7, 2004.

That means that Bush and company had a report in their hands that was THE most extensive look at their torture program and they completely ignored it.

Why?

Because admitting it at that time would have meant certain defeat for Bush in the 2004 election. And admitting it after the election would have completely discredited the administration.

So then, to all of you who continue to think that the Bush continued to sanction the torture techniques because it made this country safer, please, wake up already.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 and is filed under Bush, Cheney, History, Torture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.