The CIA Gets Jumpy

Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish: The authorization of torture and abuse of prisoners by the CIA is a serious issue. And the more we know, the worse it looks. One sign of how serious it is is the response of the CIA director, Michael Hayden, to the work of the CIA inspector general to investigate possible law-breaking in the agency - he's investigating the investigator. The reason is pretty obvious:

A report by Mr. Helgerson’s office completed in the spring of 2004 warned that some C.I.A.-approved interrogation procedures appeared to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as defined by the international Convention
Against Torture.

Some of the inspector general’s work on detention issues was conducted by Mary O. McCarthy, who was fired from the agency last year after being accused of leaking classified information. Officials said Mr. Helgerson’s office was nearing completion on a number of inquiries into C.I.A. detention, interrogation, and “renditions” — the practice of seizing suspects and delivering them to the authorities in other nations.

And so the Bushies dig in deeper.