The Ultimate Reality Show

We do not torture. - George W. Bush

Of course that depends on what your definition of torture is. But now, thanks to some stellar record-keeping by a person or persons unknown, we can judge for ourselves:

The CIA has three video and audio recordings of interrogations of senior al Qaida captives but misled federal judges about the evidence during the case against terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, federal prosecutors revealed in a Nov. 9 court filing that was made public Tuesday. [...]

The government's letter said that "the CIA came into possession of the three recordings under unique circumstances involving separate national security matters," leaving unclear whether the tapes show CIA interrogations or possibly questioning by agents of another country.

Leaving aside the question of what the usual penalty would be for "misleading" a federal judge, these tapes offer a chance for the Bush administration to proudly show the world that the actions taken at their secret prisons for al Qaeda suspects did in fact operate, "within the law." Or as a former CIA assistant general counsel put it:

A videotape is worth a thousand words.

And this shouldn't be a problem for the administration because after all, as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said on the day the "black sites" were revealed in the Washington Post:

Well, the fact that they are secret, assuming there are such sites, does not mean that simply because something is -- and some people say that the test of your principles are what you do when no one is looking. And the President has insisted that whether it is in the public, or is in the private, the same principles will apply, and the same principles will be respected.

So, show the tapes. Let the world see what George Bush's principles look like