1115.org

ThinkProgress yesterday trumpeted a sensational headline:

Bush: I Personally Authorized Torture Of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

That would probably be a major story if it were true. The reason why no one else is trumpeting it (except for a few misguided souls who haven’t yet learned that with ThinkProgress these days you have to be careful to make sure the facts actually justify their story and headline) is that it’s not actually true.

Here’s the lede from the ThinkProgress story, written by Ali Frick:

In an interview with Brit Hume that aired today on Fox News Sunday, President Bush admitted that he personally authorized the torture of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He said he personally asked “what tools” were available to use on him, and sought legal approval for waterboarding him:

And here’s what Bush actually said:

One such person who gave us information was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He was the mastermind of the September the 11th, 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people on our soil.

And I’m in the Oval Office and I am told that we have captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the professionals believe he has information necessary to secure the country. So I ask what tools are available for us to find information from him, and they gave me a list of tools. And I said, are these tools deemed to be legal. And so we got legal opinions before any decision was made. And I think when people study the history of this particular episode they’ll find out we gained good information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in order to protect our country.

So, yes, Bush admitted that he personally asked “what tools” were available to use on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But he didn’t say he sought legal approval for waterboarding him. Asking “are these tools deemed to be legal” is a far cry from seeking legal approval for waterboarding him. And in Bush’s account, the first person singular stops with the statement “And I said, are these tools deemed to be legal.” After that, “we” takes over. And it’s not clear at all who that nameless “we” is who “got legal opinions before any decision was made”. It may include Bush, or it may not.

Bush cannot be said to have admitted that he was involved even in seeking legal approval for waterboarding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. And he certainly cannot be said to have admitted that he personally authorized the torture Of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

At this rate — there have been previous instances of sloppiness and what is usually regarded as dishonesty — ThinkProgress‘ credibility is going to go down the tubes.

*** Update, 9:04 am ***

Now Matt Corley has a ThinkProgress post headlined:

Bush: It ‘may be fair’ to say that ‘Republicans don’t like immigrants.’

Fair enough, except that it would be equally accurate if the headline read:

Bush: It ‘may be unfair’ to say that ‘Republicans don’t like immigrants.’

What Bush actually said was:

And the problem with the initial outcome of the (immigration) debate was some people said, “well, Republicans don’t like immigrants.” Now, that may be fair or unfair, but that’s the image that came out.

I’m not sure what is gained by such pointless quote-twisting. It isn’t as if Bush doesn’t continually provide enough fodder for genuinely poking fun at him.