After reading John Yoo's attack on the president for
not taking Osama alive and bringing him to Gitmo, I thought I might take a
minute to explain something I sometimes say. Once in a while I mention, in
passing, that the Bush administration saw torturing people as a plus, not a
cost. And whenever I do, some readers clutch their breasts and reach for the
smelling salts: how dare I say such a thing? But it's
true -- not because they're sadists, but because it suited their self-image...
