Not even a little torture

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Some Obama officials are sending disturbingly mixed messages about the treatment of terrorism suspects.

Has Barack Obama retreated on his promise to end the Bush administration's lawless and sometimes cruel treatment of suspected terrorists? By no means, but some of his actions -- and comments from some of his key appointees -- are sending a mixed message.

First, the encouraging news: Unlike their predecessors, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta have said that waterboarding is torture.

President Bush mused that it would be nice to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center; President Obama has ordered that it be closed within a year.

The Bush administration transported suspects to other countries to be interrogated by the CIA at secret prisons; the new administration will close such "black sites."

The Bush administration allowed the CIA to use harsh interrogation tactics off-limits to the military; Obama has abandoned that policy.

The president's promises of change, however, come with equivocating asterisks, most recently an acceptance of the Bush administration's use of the "state secrets" doctrine to thwart a lawsuit over alleged torture as part of the CIA's so-called extraordinary rendition program.

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