Top Cheney staffer grilled on torture policy

WASHINGTON - Was this the face of the mastermind of the Bush administration's alleged torture policy? David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, stared across the table at the members of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. Tough, brittle and utterly self-confident, Addington didn't hide his disdain and most of the Democrats in the room didn't hide theirs either. Summoned to testify about his role in the Bush administration’s policy on interrogating suspects at the Guantanamo Naval base in Cuba, Addington testified for much of three hours Thursday. He gave committee members little to grasp if they wanted to prove that he had ordered torture or provided legal rationalizations for it. An impasse over whether torture was committed By the end of the hearing the... [read full story]