Programmatic Torture

Steve Clemons of the Washington Note provides a summary of the key findings from the New Yorker's Jane Mayer's new book The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals.

~ The single minded campaign, born in the office of the Vice President, to legalize torture and expand the President's powers as "Commander-in-Chief" to the point of unchecked authority with the ability to violate virtually any law.
~ The first full account of the secret Red Cross report describing the detailed allegations of torture made by the CIA's top fourteen terror suspects -- all of whom are currently held in Guantanamo Bay -- and the Red Cross's warning to the United States government that this treatment unequivocally constituted "torture," exposing Bush Administration officials to prosecution for war crimes.
~ Details about the scores of innocent people the United States Government has abused -- including the inside story of a mistaken CIA "rendition," and the revelation that the CIA is investigating a half-dozen more such erroneous kidnappings.
~ Previously unpublished, shocking details showing what the CIA did to detainees to make them talk and new revelations about the growing doubts and fights within the intelligence agency over these harrowing tactics.