UPDATED – Breaking with Bush: Style Over Substance
Yes, Obama has reversed key Bush security policies with the strike of a pen, the NYT tell us, but mostly for show (it gets better! Scroll all the way to the bottom for update):
The immediate practical impact of the orders was limited, in part because the most aggressive Bush policies were scaled back long ago. Military interrogators have been required by law to abide by the Army Field Manual since 2005, and since 2003 the C.I.A. has not used waterboarding, the near-drowning technique described as torture by Mr. Obama’s choice as attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. Only a handful of prisoners have passed through the C.I.A.’s secret overseas detention program since 2005.
After all, the new paradigm allows for a loophole big enough for the CIA to fly a Predator drone through:
Dennis C. Blair, a retired admiral and former C.I.A. official who is expected to be easily confirmed as the intelligence director by the Senate Intelligence Committee, insisted that military and intelligence interrogators would follow the same rules, but he left open the possibility that techniques beyond the 19 currently approved for military interrogators could be authorized.
Mr. Blair also suggested that some interrogation procedures would need to remain secret so potential adversaries could not train to resist them.
“We don’t want to provide open intelligence support for those who are coming after us,” he told members of the Intelligence Committee.
The response puzzled some Democratic senators, who long have maintained that secret interrogation rules only raise suspicions that the United States might be abusing prisoners.
Hey, I’m not complaining. Just saying…
UPDATE: Wired reports Obama sides with Bush on warrantless wiretaps (via Gizmodo, where they are “sad to see this happening”).
Oh, the disappointment! My prior advice stands: watch what Obama does, not what he says. Same goes for conservatives, by the way.
