Peter Brookes: the Usain Bolt of Retarded

Peter Brookes straps on his golden track shoes and tries to break the record for the most logical fallacies in under 250 words.

Once we get beyond claims about the alleged mishandling of interrogations by CIA officers, there are a couple of things that people should keep in mind:

1. The interrogation program provided critical information that led to the disruption of terror attacks against U.S. interests in the difficult, early days after 9/11.

Unproven. The supporting evidence for this claim is "George W. Bush said so."

2. It isn’t by chance that there hasn’t been another terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Holy fuckballs, are you kidding me? Cum hoc, ergo propter hoc, dickhead.

3. These actions were taken by well-intentioned individuals who were likely doing what they thought would help keep their fellow Americans safe.

i.e. They acted in good faith. Just following orders. Appeal to ignorance.

4. The Justice Department investigation will likely have a chilling effect on CIA officers in the field, who will wonder if they should be getting the terrorist or getting lawyers.

Speculation. Appeal to consequences.

5. Let’s not forget: We’re still at war, and our intelligence professionals represent our first line of defense.

Appeal to emotion. Red herring. Card-stacking. Begging the question. And just plain stupid.

Get this man a medal.