Torture? No problem. It covers so much.

Pogge is on this, but I can't resist.

Geoffrey O'Brian, a CSIS lawyer appeared before the Public Safety Committee today and blew the cover of CSIS right off.

Geoffrey O'Brian, a CSIS lawyer and advisor on operations and legislation, under questioning by the public safety committee, admitted there is no absolute ban on using intelligence that may have been obtained from countries with questionable human rights records on torture.

No... there isn't. In fact, one hasn't really murdered anybody unless one actually, you know, personally killed that person.

Oh! Am I wrong?! Imagine that! You can be accused of the same crime if you are an accessory before, during or after the fact.

He said it would be extremely rare but in a circumstance as grave as the 9/11 attacks or the Air India bombing, the executive branch has a "duty" to protect the security of its citizens, even if such information can "never" be used in a court proceeding.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! What the fuck is O'Brian trying to produce here? He drags out the 9/11 "Cheney" card and a home grown cluster-fuck as examples of instances we would use torture to prevent?!

Better idea. Try the truth.

Nobody had to torture anybody to prevent 9/11. All the information, including warnings, were right there for anybody who wanted to pay attention.

Why did it happen?

All those serious people ignored every single warning, right up to the Commander-in-Chief, who, I might add, was given details as to how it would happen.

Air India? Well, now that we know the truth, finally, it appears there was a little problem with coordination and the sharing of intelligence already in the hands of the RCMP and CSIS. Again, the entire event could have been prevented if it wasn't for the fact that CSIS was one of the parties involved and contributed to a performance that would make the Keystone Kops look like the British Special Air Service when held up against the inept behaviour of Canadian intelligence services.

And now, O'Brian wants to run down to the other end-zone. Even though the information was there, in their possession, the easy way to deal with any future threat is to gain it through torture... maybe. No suggestion that if they actually did their jobs in a diligent and competent manner that the results would actually have been much, much different.

A deal I'm willing to make with Mr. O'Brian: I will guarantee the Canada Revenue Agency that I can find at least $10,000 of earnings which Mr. O'Brian did not report on his tax return. Even if every single tax return he ever filed is completely honest, I will have O'Brian admitting to being a complete tax cheat by the time I've tossed three of his fingernails into the garbage bin.

I have nothing at all to do with the Canada Revenue Agency, but I'm sure they'll thank me for the information... without regard as to how I got it.

I wonder how O'Brian feels taking on the mantle of Alberto Gonzales?