First Senator McCain says that “waterboarding and other extreme measures” are off limits. Senator Graham said we “let the world know we are no longer engaging in” waterboarding. I guess no one let the Vice President know. He said waterboarding—or simulated drowning— is “a no-brainer.”

Who can we believe? The Vice President? The White House spin team? Or Senate Republicans who have no say in how this policy is enforced? It is clearer by the day that an Administration that lobbied for the right to torture got exactly what it wanted. If that’s not the case, Senate Republicans who defended the Administration’s intentions and defended the Administration compromise need to demand answers and accountability from their White House.

There is no clear policy from this Administration on torture just as there is no clear policy on Iraq, where one day President Bush invites comparisons to Vietnam, the next day Vice President Cheney says Iraq is going remarkably well, and every day the civil war intensifies.

Every day there are more contradictions, more clarifications, more claims that quotes taken out of context. An Administration that claims they don’t do nuance seem to have perfected doing chaos. We need to change course.

This Administration’s determination to assert the right to torture has undermined our moral authority, put our troops at greater risk, and made our country less safe. Enough is enough. It is time for the United States Senate to make clear what presidents from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton knew for certain but this Administration prefers to muddy: on the issue of torture, there is no compromise. America will not weaken the values that make us strong.”

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