Who wanted the "techniques" in the first place?

[leftrightwingnut]

I think that I am missing a critical piece of data. In a lot of the more recent discussion, the general assumption seems to me to be that

1. the CIA was ordered to perform the "techniques" (presumably by the White House)
   
2. the CIA went to the DOJ to get a ruling on the legality of the "techniques"
   
3. the CIA received confirmation of the legality of the orders
   
4. the CIA carried out the orders
   

Personally, I have not seen any evidence of this. (Admittedly, I have not looked far, that is why I'm asking.)
Or is this more like what happened:

1. the CIA informed the White House that it wished to use certain interrogation "techniques" and asked for White House assistance in providing justification
   
2. the White House asked the DOJ to come up with a justification for the techniques and the DOJ complied
   
3. the CIA used the techniques more openly thinking that it had legal cover
   

In the first case the CIA officers are the unfortunate pawns of a corrupt White House. In the second scenario, the CIA is a corrupt agency putting pressure on a compliant and equally corrupt White House. So I'm wondering: will someone point me to specific evidence of these or any other scenarios regarding the identity of the persons who originated and requested that the torture techniques take place?

[rwheeler31]

1. Oh come on, can you say Ch a n y.

[leftrightwingnut]

2. That's a good assumption and a popular one.

Is there any documentation of it?

I can imagine Cheney being such a wing nut that he insisted upon the use of the techniques. But it is hard for me to imagine that the CIA would go along willingly. After all, the CIA is supposed to know about interrogation techniques, especially what works and what doesn't. If the stuff doesn't work, I can't see the CIA doing it no matter what Cheney said. If it really does work, then, okay, I can see it as a possibility.

I guess what I'm really getting at: it is hard to imagine that the CIA wanted nothing to do with the techniques. I suspect that both Cheney and the CIA know that these things can be effective in some way and wanted free reign to carry them out whenever it was convenient.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. how many years has this been going on?

[wiggs]

4. I would imagine that the CIA and the military are the ones who believe

that torture doesn't work and that torture endangers our own guys in the long run. It is widely held that torture doesn't provide reliable information...CIA would not have sought it. Torture was done for the benefit of the administration for, possibly, some simple and heinous and largely political reasons. Either:

...the administration didn't care about the truthfulness of the information and just needed some gasping confession to justify other actions in iraq and in the us.

...the administration sought torture because this is what infinite arrogance wedded with unrestrained power does. Because it can.

...the administration continued to offer messages to the world about heirarchy, badass-ness, our disdain for international law, and our contempt for those "who are not with us"

In any case...if the CIA and military are largely against this kind of thing, and I think they are, now that Obama has their backs I would hope the beans are about to be spilled on who did order and condone this stuff.