Why No Remedy?
New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks on the PBS NewsHour:
A lot of people had the idea there was no deliberation in the Bush White House, people were just drinking the Kool-Aid. But we’ve learned from the Woodward book, whether it was Condi Rice, or the NSC advisor, Steve Hadley, they knew. They had a realistic sense of what was happening, and the remedies never came because they either ran into Don Rumsfeld or they ran into President Bush.
For me, this creates a real moral dilemma. I don’t condone torture — no, not even for Osama bin Laden if he should ever decide to turn himself in — but I can’t help thinking that Abu Ghraib is too good for Bush and Rumsfeld.
“Criminal” does not adequately describe their behavior.