(A)Moral Relativism in the Bush Administration

Lo and Behold! The Bush Administration's Intelligence Czar Mike McConnell is quoted as saying:

"If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!" McConnell said in the article. "Whether it's torture by anybody else's definition, for me it would be torture."

You know, if it were happening to me I would consider it torture.

This revelation is powerful! Finally someone in the Bush administration who still has a job has concluded that waterboarding is torture! This surely means he will condemn the practice in the most forceful terms, right? Wrong:

"But [Mike McConnell] rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice."

There you have it: If it were happening to me it is torture, but if it's applied to someone else, maybe one of those olive- skinned folks from Iraq-i-stan it wouldn't be torture.

Mr. McConnell in the article enlightens us about the effectiveness of "certain interrogation techniques" (read: waterboarding):

"When asked whether the United States had gotten meaningful information through torture, McConnell denied the United States uses torture, then added that 'tons' of meaningful information had been received using certain interrogation techniques: 'Does it save lives? Tons!'"

God, George Orwell must be rolling around in his grave.

I'm sure glad we have folks like Mr. McConnell with such moral integrity in our government ensuring the security of our country! I can finally sleep soundly tonight.

And God help you if you are wallowing away in one of our secret prisons on foreign soil. Mr. McConnell would have no problem with you snorting a little water for the greater good.