The Light Dawns?

The United States has told the UN Committee on Torture that all American officials are barred from the use of torture in interrogations, according to the AP. This is good news, IF it turns out to be true.

UN officials--and others--fear that the administration's restrictive view of torture will still obtain, and that the announcement will turn out to be just another propaganda ploy. Still, there are some good signs. For instance, the Army is about to release a manual on interrogation that--among other steps--makes it clear that waterboarding (the process by which a prisoner is strapped to a board with a tube down his throat into which water is poured, imitating [and sometimes causing] drowning) will be banned. Still, the United States engages in double-talk (or is it double-speak?) about what techniques American intelligence agents are empowered to use. And, of course, the use of coercive techniques, i.e., torture, becomes a problem only if it is revealed. So, has the United States really renounced torture? Let's hope so. But don't be surprised if it turns out that the administration has merely ordered that secret interrogations be buried more deeply. That would fit what we've seen of this administration's style.