And I think we have to keep in mind a very important element of this whole stink over the Bush Administration's descent into torture: Their primary motivation at the outset was to find their "smoking gun" connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda, their fabricated pretext to invade Iraq. This element makes the torture "debate" that much more cynical and laughable, since their argument has been about "saving lives," when we now know that what they really wanted to do was waterboard and wall slam prisoners into telling their inquistioners something politically useful for Bush-Cheney. It is outrageous. I believe COL Larry Wilkerson, Powell's former staff chief, is the latest on record to make this charge.