Well, Is It or Ain't It?

Far as I can tell, Thomas Ricks has never said or written anything as definitive as "waterboarding=torture." But in an April FP post, he certainly hints at it. Under a youtube of a song about waterboarding, he writes, "I hate the fact that my country's leaders panicked after 9/11 and embraced torture."

So, what accounts for this exchange with Hugh Hewitt? Ricks rightly says that "making torture national policy was ... probably the second biggest mistake the Bush administration made, and one that we’ll be paying for, for many, many years to come as well."

Hewitt replies:

But of course when you say torture, you mean waterboarding, and there is a very vigorous debate that waterboarding is not torture. But I understand you’re on the position that it is.

Ricks's response:

Well, whether it is or not I don’t know.

I find that hard to believe.