Obama's "torture": Yes or No?

"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that."

"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world."

So said Barack Obama in an interview on CBS 60 Minutes a couple of days ago.

But, things may not be that black and white, as Michael Otterman, author of American Torture, writes on his web site:

"Early warning signs came from AP reportage of plans for new, unneccesary "terror courts" and a NYT piece on "preventive detention of terrorism suspects". More ominous news came from the Wall Street Journal. According to a “current government official familiar with the transition" interviewed by that paper, "Obama may decide he wants to keep the road open in certain cases for the CIA to use techniques not approved by the military, but with much greater oversight.”

Will Obama take the "centrist" approach and yield to more conservative factions demanding continuity of the torture regime? The speculative WSJ article, noted Glen Greenwald, is not "evidence of what Obama will do, but it is definitely compelling evidence that people close to him -- those whom he has chosen to be influential -- are pushing him in that direction."

Chief among these pushers are John Brennan-- former aide to CIA Director George Tenet, Obama's transition chief for intelligence policy, and the leading candidate to replace Mike McConnell as Obama's Director of National Intelligence. Jane Mayer last year labelled Brennan a "supporter" of "the CIA’s interrogation and detention program".

Read on here. To say the least Obama's position is troubling - especially coming from a trained lawyer who also taught law.

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