New American lows: Yoo/Bybee II

The ACLU was able to get the release of the infamous Yoo/Bybee II memo that outlined acceptable interrogation techniques for prisoners held by the CIA outside US borders. Yoo/Bybee I contended that it would only be illegal for interrogators to inflict pain if "organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death" were to happen. It's heavily redacted, almost to the point of completely being blackened.

One of the more stunning sentences that got through was a little one that stated "To validate the statute, an individual must have the specific intent to inflict severe pain or suffering...Because specific intent is an element of the offense, the absence of specific intent negates the charge of torture. ... We have further found that if a defendant acts with the good faith belief that his actions will not cause such suffering, he has not acted with specific intent."

Catch that? As long as the intent is to get information then anything you do is legal. As long as severe pain is only a byproduct of information gathering, it's legal. Unless you're a serial killer who silently tortures first, this basic standard applies to anyone who has ever committed torture. Our standard is now "At least be asking him about al Qaeda or something while you're crushing his scrotum." The other standard is that it had to occur outside the US, which is why the CIA ran (and still might run) black sites in countries such a Poland, Romania and Uzbekistan.

In case you had any illusions to the contrary: America did torture, is torturing, will continue to torture as long as Bush is in office. Or as Major General Antonio Taguba wrote, in the preface to a Physicians for Human Rights torture study on former US detainees, "there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes."

In your name.