An interesting discussion. There's a reason the GOP leadership needs to smear and silence Paul. His arguments might begin to refine our debate on Middle East policy.
In the debate over torture and prisoner abuse as government policy, the resistance of so many in the military, CIA, FBI and elsewhere in the government to the war crimes of the Bush administration has been an inspiration.
The NYT cannot bring itself to describe the techniques that the CIA has used as "torture." And yet we know that the CIA has tortured prisoners under the plain legal definition of torture, and we know that this was the whole point of giving the CIA explicit legislative permission for this in 2006.
