"I can say, without exception and without equivocation, that the United States will not torture"
Meanwhile, Greg Sargent highlights White House counsel Greg Craig (really? your folks decided to call you Gred Craig?) offering exceptions and equivocations:
Among the hard questions Obama left open, in fact, is whether the C.I.A. will have to follow the same interrogation rules as the military. While the President has clearly put an end to cruel tactics, Craig said that Obama “is somewhat sympathetic to the spies’ argument that their mission and circumstances are different.”
Now if you read through Sargent's post and the comments, you'll get some pretty good discussion about Obama's other appointments at OLC and how they signal a "clear break" with the Bush policy on torture as well as reference to a theory that it might pragmatically appropriate for Obama to appear deferential to the CIA in these matters. I'm not so convinced of this but there is a cogent, somewhat reassuring argument to be made there.
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