Bob Herbert: "Some of the prisoners being held by the CIA are no doubt murderous individuals who, given the opportunity, would do tremendous harm. There are others, however, whose links to terrorist activities are dubious at best, and perhaps nonexistent."

Given that in the days after 9/11, they put out a list of the hijackers, and several (IIRC) of these named people popped up and said, "No, I'm right here, that wasn't me," not sure that I'd trust the CIA to get things like identities right. That, and their lousy record with the Iraq intelligence and other mistakes, means that leaving them (or worse yet, Cheney's secret cabal) with the last word on who gets locked up is outright criminal neglect.

Herbert again: "It's a secret process that almost inevitably leads to abuse."

It is abuse. Coercion and torture are not moral. People can possibly claim they're "necessary" or "useful" (but even this is a matter of quite some dispute), but that doesn't change the fact that such practises are immoral.

Bobert: " Well, George, it wouldn't be so hard if you quit diggin' in that hole yer in... Ain't rocket surgery..."

As a recovering brain scientist, I resemble that remark.

GUEST,A: "Ah yes, the most fair and truthful Mr. Herbert. He writes as if he knew about the CIA camps for years."

Ummm. nope. I think you're reading into Herbert's words what you want to hear (or you're just plain dishonest). Hell, if you're upset at the amount of stuff posted "not praising GWB", why don't you send him a letter and tell him to stop f***ing things up so badly. "Brownie, you're doing one heck of a job" -- G.Dubya (followed by Brownie still being paid by the maladministration rather than being charged with criminal neglect).

I notice silence from Old Guy....

Cheers,