Greenwald's book With Liberty and Justice for Some explains the torture mess [View all]

[noise]

High level officials (i.e. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Tenet, etc.) ordered an absurd program to be implemented. It sure looks like the real intention was a "tough on terror" PR effort which would distract from 9/11 cover-ups and ulterior agendas (i.e. war profiteering). In the US we are told that there is no such thing as high level corruption because our leaders ALWAYS act in good faith. To the point that outright criminality is spun as an attempt to criminalize policy disagreements. So the culpability argument is shifted to the people following the corrupt orders. The high level officials then talk of how unfair it is to pick on dedicated CIA agents who were only concerned with protecting the country. Basically the high level officials hide behind the people they ordered to torture. Sort of like when high level Bush officials implemented a sinister invasion/occupation policy of Iraq and then hid behind soldiers to avoid criticism.