The way this issue was handled by the Bush administration is troubling.
They recruited attorneys to say that in their legal opinion X did not constitute torture.
The attorneys are not responsible for the results, because all they did is provide a legal opinion.
The interrogators are not responsible because they followed legal advice.
I’m not saying the practices in question constituted torture, or necessarily that torture itself is always wrong. (There’s something weird about a society where it’s okay to kill people, but never to hurt them.)
What I am saying is this “spread the responsibility around till nobody is accountable” approach is problematic by nature.
George Bush was responsible for the decision to "torture" KSM and others.
I know after almost four years of Obama it is hard to remember a President taking responsibility for something unpopular....