Torture - What's In A Word

A whole lot if you're the NYTimes and have as yet to describe the interrogation techniques authorized and encouraged by the Bush regime as such.

Andrew Sullivan is a bit hot under the collar about this, especially in light of the NYT's description of the torture of a former US POW held by the Chinese in the 1950's in the pilot's recent obituary...

You will notice how the NYT defines torture when it comes to foreign governments - isolation, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation. Much milder than anything the US did to one of its own citizens, Jose Padilla. But the parallel is almost perfect: these are, after all, the exact Chinese Communist techniques that were reverse engineered from the SERE program. So you have a perfect demonstration of the NYT's double-standard. If Chinese do it to Americans, it's torture; if Americans do it to an American, it's "harsh interrogation." Does Jill Abramson really expect us to take this lying down?