FOR REPUBLICANS, TORTURE IS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE, FOR DEMOCRATS IT'S PERSONAL:

After Sharp Words on C.I.A., Obama Faces a Delicate Task (MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE, 12/03/08, NY Times)

For two years on the presidential campaign trail, Barack Obama rallied crowds with strongly worded critiques of the Bush administration’s most controversial counterterrorism programs, from hiding terrorism suspects in secret Central Intelligence Agency jails to questioning them with methods he denounced as torture.

Now Mr. Obama must take charge of the C.I.A., in what is already proving to be one of the more treacherous patches of his transition to the White House. [...]

[E]ven some senior Democratic lawmakers who are vehement critics of the Bush administration’s interrogation policies seemed reluctant in recent interviews to commit the new administration to following the Army Field Manual in all cases.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who will take over as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in January, led the fight this year to force the C.I.A. to follow military interrogation rules. Her bill was passed by Congress but vetoed by President Bush.

But in an interview on Tuesday, Mrs. Feinstein indicated that extreme cases might call for flexibility. “I think that you have to use the noncoercive standard to the greatest extent possible,” she said, raising the possibility that an imminent terrorist threat might require special measures.

It doesn't matter what terrorists know, it matters whether W or the UR is the one finding it out. Exquisite.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 3, 2008 10:05 PM