President Obama Allowing Torture of Bradley Manning to Continue

When George W. Bush was interviewed by Matt Lauer back in November of 2010, he said he allowed the continuation of using the tortuous practice of waterboarding because:

the lawyer said it was legal. He said it did not fall within the anti-torture act. I’m not a lawyer. But you gotta trust the judgment of the people around you, and I do.

Well now president Obama is also trusting the judgment of the people around him when the Pentagon told him that the conditions which Bradley Manning is forced to endure are:

appropriate and are meeting our basic standards.

In Bush's case, he was just looking for people who would tell him what he wanted to hear and then taking their advice, but Obama is trusting the judgment of the very people who are involved in the mistreatment of Manning.

When it comes to American presidents justifying the use of torture, it seems Pete Townsend was right when he wrote the words, "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".