Oh, the Humanity! U.S. Could Again Use Waterboarding

Sure, we could do it again. Never take that card off the table.

Of course, seeing the way the presidential races are shaping up, it won't ever be used after January 20, 2009.

The United States may use waterboarding to question terrorism suspects in the future, the White House said Wednesday, rejecting the widely held belief that the practice amounts to torture.

"It will depend upon circumstances," spokesman Tony Fratto said, adding "the belief that an attack might be imminent, that could be a circumstance that you would definitely want to consider."

"The president will listen to the considered judgment of the professionals in the intelligence community and the judgment of the attorney general in terms of the legal consequences of employing a particular technique," he said.

His comments came one day after CIA director Michael Hayden for the first time admitted publicly that the agency had used "waterboarding," a practice that amounts to controlled drowning, to question three top al-Qaeda detainees nearly five years ago.

After years of insisting that disclosing any specific interrogation techniques would harm US national security, US President George W. Bush "authorized General Hayden to say what he said," Fratto told reporters.

Seeing how much our image around the world will magically improve next year, I can't see anyone ever perpetrating acts of terror against us that would ever make us do this again.

Right?

We'll just have the magic of dialogue.