Wordplay?

I try not to harp on about the Abu Ghraib thing, but something occured to me this afternoon. The President is now say that he did not order any torture. It's not clear if he's talking about Abu Ghraib in particular, or including Guantanimo in that statement. But on the other hand, we're hearing more and more about administration memos that basically say that it's not torture unless it hurts so much that the victim feels like he's going to die. So part of me wonders if he's splitting hairs here. As if he was arguing about what the definition of "is" is.

Electablog has been writing a bit about this, much more eloquently than I ever could:

Our Soul, Our Being, Oh Yeah, And Our Laws
Worse Yet to Come in Torture Scandal?
Justifying Torture

Read them. I know it's not as entertaining as reading the comics, but this stuff is important.