btw : did you hear Obama's waffling during his interview with George Stephanopolis ?
They were talking about Cheney's advice that he calm down and find out exactly what was being done before he needlessly limit his options :
OBAMA: For example, Vice President Cheney I think continues to defend what he calls extraordinary measures or procedures when it comes to interrogations and from my view waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration we will not torture.
STEPHANOPOULOS: How about them taking that to the next step. Right now the CIA has a special program, would you require that that program -- basically every government interrogation program be under the same standard, be in accordance with the army field manual?
OBAMA: My general view is that our United States military is under fire and has huge stakes in getting good intelligence. And if our top army commanders feel comfortable with interrogation techniques that are squarely within the boundaries of rule of law, our constitution and international standards, then those are things that we should be able to (INAUDIBLE)
STEPHANOPOULOS: So no more special CIA program?
OBAMA: I'm not going to lay out a particular program because again,
I thought that Cheney's advice was good, which is let's make sure we know everything that's being done. But the interesting thing George was that during the campaign, although John McCain and I had a lot of differences on a lot of issues, this is one where we didn't have a difference, which is that it is possible for us to keep the American people safe while still adhering to our core values and ideals and that's what I intend to carry forward in my administration.
ABC News: 'This Week' Transcript: Barack Obama
To refresh Obama's memory .....McCain initially supported limiting interrogations to the Army Field Manual . But when Sen FrankenFeinstein introduced an amendment to make it law ,McCain opposed it.
Then Feinstein herself got that "flexibility " bug according to the NY Slimes :
But in an interview on Tuesday, Mrs. Feinstein indicated that extreme cases might call for flexibility. “I think that you have to use the noncoercive standard to the greatest extent possible,” she said, raising the possibility that an imminent terrorist threat might require special measures.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/us...1&ref=politics
Her cosponsor on the Army Field manual amendment,Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, said :
he would consult with the C.I.A. and approve interrogation techniques that went beyond the Army Field Manual as long as they were “legal, humane and noncoercive.” But Mr. Wyden declined to say whether C.I.A. techniques ought to be made public.
Hmmm ......secret interrogation techniques .