I think the safest and most succinct way I can react to the news that Khalid Muhammad was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 by CIA interrogators is by making a flippant pop culture reference:
Even Jack Bauer wouldn’t have done it.
The only other safe, mature, profanity-free reaction I can offer? Alex, here’s proof that the elites of the Republican Party (or any party) can’t be necessarily credited with a more “liberal” human rights philosophy than the “masses.” I believe in the basic humanity of the average person, Democrat or Republican, but in the regimented confines of institutions like the CIA, apparently, it can be lost. How could they think that drowning a prisoner six times a day could be useful for any purpose but to break him entirely? How could they have done it, and how could President Bush have asked it of them? This isn’t “interrogation” or “persuasion.” It’s torture, plain and simple.
Today, I cannot honestly say that I love America. I take comfort in the fact that these memos have now been released. But this is heartbreaking. How could it happen here?