Banana Republic Update

Hot Air does something really quite spectacular, even by far-right blog standards - they're blaming John McCain for the CIA's destruction of evidence of war-crimes. They don't seem want to understand that torture has always been illegal in the US, and that waterboarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions and hypothermia have always been understood as methods of torture. This war hasn't been "politicized" by McCain's attempts to stamp out torture. It has been betrayed by an indecent president, vice-president and then-defense secretary. Joe Gandelman sees shades of Watergate. John Cole is speechless in the face of "what my country has turned into." Larry Johnson predicts:

Jose Rodriguez will not be the only one walking the public plank on this issue. Other intelligence officers likely to be asked tough questions include Cofer Black (now a senior official with Blackwater) and Ambassador Henry "Hank" Crumpton, who was Cofer's deputy and subsequently served as the Coordinator for Counter Terrorism at State Department. George Tenet and John McLaughlin will also have some 'splaining to do.

So will the president.