Fun with Dick and Chains - "A no brainer"

In an interview on Tuesday, vice president Dick Cheney finally admitted that the U.S. does use water-boarding as an interrogation method. The method involves securing a suspect to a table or board that is angled with the head lower than the feet, and then either dunking them into water, or pouring water over their faces, preferably with the face wrapped in cloth or cellophane. This causes the suspect to gag and choke and feel like they're about to drown.

But don't worry about whether or not this is inhumane or dangerous; the VP has assured us that this is not torture.

In the interview on Tuesday with WDAY Radio in Fargo, N.D., host Scott Hennen asked Cheney, "Would you agree that a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?"

The VP then replied, "It's a no-brainer for me, but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president 'for torture.' We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."

Now, that seems pretty clear that he was asked about water-boarding, and replied in the affirmative, but apparently I may have mis-interpreted the response. Luckily, Lee Ann McBride, a spokesperson for Cheney, was able to clear it up:

"What the vice president was referring to was an interrogation program without torture. The vice president never goes into what may or may not be techniques or methods of questioning."

Thanks for the clarification there, Lee Ann. Being tricked into admitting you use a certain technique by answering a direct question is not the same thing as admitting it. Kind of like when somebody who's being tortured admits to anything just to get the torture to stop.

Meanwhile, Cheney's old buddies at Halliburton are up to their old tricks again. This time they're submitting bills to the government for their contract work in Iraq that included 55% in overhead. But I'm sure it's all legit. They wouldn't be awarded no-bid contracts if they weren't on the level, right?

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Tags: Dick Cheney, torture, water-boarding, Halliburton