A fascinating, if maddening and depressing, piece in Vanity Fair about torture as policy in the Bush Administration: The Green Light: Politics & Power.

This excerpt -- a discussion with former Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith-- is reminiscent of Catch-22, and would be hilarious if it didn't have chilling real-world implications:

How had the administration gone from a commitment to Geneva, as suggested by the meeting with Rumsfeld, to the president’s declaration that none of the detainees had any rights under Geneva? It all turns on what you mean by “promoting respect” for Geneva, Feith explained. Geneva didn’t apply at all to al-Qaeda fighters, because they weren’t part of a state and therefore couldn’t claim rights under a treaty that was binding only on states. Geneva did apply to the Taliban, but by Geneva’s own terms Taliban fighters weren’t entitled to P.O.W. status, because they hadn’t worn uniforms or insignia. That would still leave the safety net provided by the rules reflected in Common Article 3— but detainees could not rely on this either, on the theory that its provisions applied only to “armed conflict not of an international character,” which the administration interpreted to mean civil war. This was new. In reaching this conclusion, the Bush administration simply abandoned all legal and customary precedent that regards Common Article 3 as a minimal bill of rights for everyone.

In the administration’s account there was no connection between the decision on Geneva and the new interrogation rules later approved by Rumsfeld for Detainee 063; its position on Geneva was dictated purely by the law itself. I asked Feith, just to be clear: Didn’t the administration’s approach mean that Geneva’s constraints on interrogation couldn’t be invoked by anyone at Guantánamo? “Oh yes, sure,” he shot back. Was that the intended result?, I asked. “Absolutely,” he replied. I asked again: Under the Geneva Conventions, no one at Guantánamo was entitled to any protection? “That’s the point,” Feith reiterated. As he saw it, either you were a detainee to whom Geneva didn’t apply or you were a detainee to whom Geneva applied but whose rights you couldn’t invoke. What was the difference for the purpose of interrogation?, I asked. Feith answered with a certain satisfaction, “It turns out, none. But that’s the point.”

Well the oilers made a good run of it at least!

origins of "the funk"

New Doctor Who this Saturday?!

Still not sold on this Catherine Tate...

EDIT: And new BSG Friday!

Still not sold on "All Along the Watchtower"...

I meant the movie Hostel.

Is Croatia safe? I don't want no Hostel experiance!

So I got word from King's: Halifax ain't gonna happen this year.

Oh well, onward to Croatia!

God I wish that zelda movie was real, it looks pretty damn good!

What is this you may ask?

Just the beginnings of the largest, most BA Grand Arms unit ever made. Going to take me a while to finish so hopefully the wait is worth it.