More semantic games from Bush

George Bush has insisted that the US does not torture detainees. While it's good to see he has shame enough to deny it, perhaps he'd like to explain a) why so many members of his intelligence services are saying that they do; and b) why his Vice-President is fighting tooth and nail to prevent Congress from banning it?

But as usual, I suspect the answer is in the other part of Bush's statement: that

"any activity we conduct is within the law."

According to Bush's Attorney-General [PDF], it's not torture (and therefore not unlawful) unless it causes "death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions". Like Clinton, Bush is playing semantic games. Unlike Clinton, he's doing it over something that actually matters.

(And that's without even touching the question of torture by proxy...)