Bush to CIA: 'Leave No Marks'

With no sign of torture on a prisoner, then it didn't happen, right?
On July 20, George W. Bush issued an executive order authorizing the CIA to use "enhanced" techniques (as the president likes to call them) in its terror interrogation program—including in the CIA's secret prisons, known internationally as "black sites."

CIA director Michael Hayden assures us that "now our mission and authorities [to conduct that mission] are clearly defined." Adds national intelligence director Michael McConnell: "We now have a clear legal basis" for the CIA's crucial national-security responsibilities.

The new Bush directive claims to forbid torture and cruel and inhuman treatment, as required by the Supreme Court's 2006 Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision and the Geneva Conventions. However, under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, only the president can interpret the meaning of the Geneva Conventions.

And under his executive order, Bush refuses to list the specific techniques that the CIA can use. All are still classified. More...