The Unique CIA

In an interview with USA Today, CIA head Porter Goss claimed that the CIA uses "unique" techniques in the interrogation of prisoners, but does not torture:

"We use lawful capabilities to collect vital information and we do it in a variety of unique and innovative ways, all of which are legal and none of which are torture."

"Goss told USA Today that the CIA is neutral on the McCain legislation. But the newspaper said Goss made clear techniques that would be restricted under McCain's proposal have yielded valuable intelligence."

So, let me get this straight, the CIA does not torture, but says that techniques that would fall outside the boundaries of the McCain Amendment banning 'cruel, inhuman or degrading' treatment of prisoners (language identical to that in the U.S.-ratified Convention on Torture), but the U.S. doesn't torture. And what is a "unique" technique. It sounds as if the CIA has developed a new set of techniques that have not been strictly identified and prohibited, but would be outlawed under the provision in the McCain Amendment. Just because they are not listed as torture in international treaty, does not mean they are not torture. If something would be banned by an act of Congress that copies language from the Convention on Torture, it is torture. Maybe he is talking about rendition, where we send prisoners to other countries, where they are tortured without our consent. That has been a new use for an existing law (dating back to the 1990s). Unique indeed.