It all makes perfect sense

President Bush said today that when it comes to terrorism suspects, "We do not torture." And that's precisely why his buddy Vice President Cheney has been fighting for so long to block a congressional ban on torturing terrorism suspects.

But if uppity liberals like U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., somehow were to get their way and slip a torture ban into law, Cheney would like it if the CIA's secret prisons in eastern Europe and elsewhere were exempt. Not that those prisons necessarily exist, of course. And not that any torture occurs there to necessitate an exemption in the first place. Just do what Uncle Dick tells you.