Dick Cheney’s Torture Kabuki

Emptywheel

I wanted to pull three threads together in this post, which suggest how Cheney instituted torture in this country:

* Alberto Gonzales may have been approving torture even while Condi Rice and others went through the show of getting an OLC opinion to authorize it;
* CIA claimed to be briefing Congress when it wasn't;
* The Bush Administration then claimed Congress had bought off on torture to persuade those objecting to torture within the administration.

There are also certain parallels with the way Cheney implemented his illegal wiretap program.

Go read. Upshot:

This last bit--the claiming Congress approved when it didn't--is a tactic they used with the illegal wiretap program, as well. [...]

So: Alberto Gonzales approves a program he has no authority to approve. They create records after the fact--the content of which is contested--to claim they had Congressional approval for the authorization. And then use that purported Congressional approval (though apparently, more members of Congress approved of this than have of torture)to try to persuade those at DOJ who objected to the program.

Emptywheel, and no doubt many others are doing it as well, has tamped the progression of events into a nice neat brick. Which someday in the not too distant future I hope will be labelled 'Exhibit A'. Or maybe 'Exhibits A through ZZZZZZ'.