I’ve had time to give the Bybee memo a good read, and I’ve gotten pretty far into the first Bradbury memo. First, let me say that I think my position on the techniques stated therein has been made pretty clear over the last several years I’ve been blogging. My moral outrage is undiminished.
[...]
I think it’s really difficult to read that memo in April 2009 and conclude that its authorizations are well-reasoned or are accurate depictions of the law of torture. I also think that it would have been really difficult to write that memo in July/August of 2002, knowing that its findings would be applied solely to the single most significant terrorist then in custody, and come to the correct legal conclusion.
He's not defending torture, just pointing out the context in which these decisions were made. Pin It
