You could be forgiven for thinking, amidst the deluge of revelations on the Bush Administration’s authorisation of torture, that we only learned about the existence of “enhanced interrogation”  recently.

Actually, despite the secrecy of the Bushmen as they expanded (and rationalised) Executive power to pursue “enhanced interrogation”, it was with us all along.

Researching the book on the early years of the Administration, I discovered this article from Walter Pincus of The Washington Post, dated 21 October 2001:

FBI and Justice Department investigators are increasingly frustrated by the silence of jailed suspected associates of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, and some are beginning to that say that traditional civil liberties may have to be cast aside if they are to extract information about the Sept. 11 attacks and terrorist plans.

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