Rice: Bush Said Torture Was Okay

"Is waterboarding torture?'' a student asks, pressing.

"The president instructed us that nothing we would do would be outside our legal obligations,'' Rice replies. "We were told, nothing that violates our obligation under the convention against torture.

"By defintion,'' Rice explains, "if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations.'' Swamp

What else would she say? The Bush administration abused their power.

McCain Against Torture Probe

John McCain is against torture and against the torture probe.
I'm on the fence on this issue.
Torture should be off the table, even if it works (which it doesn't but the argument is always presented). No doubt about that. It wasn't the right thing to do and it will never be the right thing to do.
But prosecutions?
One thing is for sure, CIA agents, who were following orders from higher ups, shouldn't be prosecuted. But I'd sure like to see Cheney on the run.
The debate is good though. We need to clear the air. We need to know what roles people had. All of this needs some sunshine.
But ultimately, I'm not sure prosecutions are the right path. I think we were led by a bunch of people who were lost and trapped in a bubble of terrorism. They lived and breathed it and lost sight of everything else--everything. Look at the current state of our economy.
Bush-Cheney were laser focused on terrorism and that's pretty much it. They were incompetent.
Except for a handful of people, Bush's people thought they were doing what was best for the country. Even Condi Rice signed off on torture. She may have been mislead but I find it hard to believe Rice didn't have good intentions.