We don't torture, we just torture

Condi Rice is essentially admitting that we run secret prisons around the world. She's telling the Europeans to stop complaining because we are saving their lives by doing this. At the same time, she's saying we don't torture anyone. She can't have it both ways. If we're not torturing these people to "save lives," why are we doing it in secret, outside the US and at great expense? Why is Cheney so insistent that the McCain anti-torture bill be stopped?

Now, you've got to remember that what our government means by the word "torture" and what everyone else means by that word are two entirely different things. The government has narrowed its definition of torture so much that it essentially doesn't exist. As long as you haven't deliberately destroyed an organ, even if you actually did destroy one, you haven't tortured anyone. It's easy to say we don't torture when you define it that way. But, by any reasonable definition, we clearly are torturing people all the time. After all, if we weren't, why would Cheney et al be fighting to stop the McCain anti-torture bill? You can't have it both ways. This is pretty clear to everyone, I think, and it's certainly clear to most Europeans. All Condi's protestations will do is make it clear to the European public that their governments have secretly conspired in this activity with the US. Not good for Blair, I wouldn't think.