CIA revolts on torture

I put up a post on the historic White House - "GOP Rebels" torture accord at the Detroit News already but I'd like to pull out this link from that post because I was wondering why Bush had disclosed and allegedly shut down those secret prisons at such at odd time in the election cycle. It's clearer now. A CIA revolt forced his hand and this is the money quote on the whole affair.

John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, who was interviewed by Fox News on Sunday, said in response to a question of whether CIA interrogators had refused to work: “I think the way I would answer you in regard to that question is that there’s been precious little activity of that kind for a number of months now, and certainly since the Supreme Court decision.”

I find it comforting that the agents finally got fed up enough or scared enough to say no. And forget moral equivalency. I think it speaks volumes about the legality of the methods when the intelligence community revolts and suddenly starts buying insurance against lawsuits.

[hat tip Jules Siegel]