Torture was official Bush policy

The International Herald Tribune reports that President Bush personally signed off on detention and interrogation policies for the CIA.

The CIA disclosed the existence of the documents in a letter Friday sent from the agency's associate general counsel, John McPherson, to lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The contents of the documents were not revealed, but one document, as described by the ACLU, is "a directive signed by President Bush granting the CIA the authority to set up detention facilities outside the United States and outlining interrogation methods that may be used against detainees."

The second document, according to the group is a Justice Department legal analysis "specifying interrogation methods that the CIA may use against top Al Qaeda members."

We are governed by criminals.

One wonders if the lawyers for all those "bad apples" convicted for the Abu Ghraib abuses might use this revelation as grounds for appeal.