Just go read it

I refer to the entire McClatchy article by Jonathan S. Landay. It narrates how there was huge pressure from the offices of Cheney and Rumsfeld to get information from detainees "proving" the non-existent link between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Set aside the unsubstantiated adolescent male fantasy of ticking time bombs and focus on this: the timing and nature of the use of torture indicate that it was done to justify the Iraq War. Not to get actionable intelligence that might save lives but to justify what they wanted to do prior to 9/11.

Torture for the sake of false evidence. (Phony confessions are really just about the only thing torture is good for, not counting the pleasuring of sadists.)

Here is Cheney lying (I know, why even point it out):

"The (al Qaida-Iraq) links go back," he said. "We know for example from interrogating detainees in Guantanamo that al Qaida sent individuals to Baghdad to be trained in C.W. and B.W. technology, chemical and biological weapons technology. These are all matters that are there for anybody who wants to look at it."

No evidence of such training or of any operational links between Iraq and al Qaida has ever been found, according to several official inquiries.

Read it all here.

--the BB