Rendition and torture: "more of a willingness in the White House to turn a blind eye to the legal niceties than within the CIA"

These two men are experts on rendition: one invented it, the other has seen its full horrors - [Sunday Herald]: "Investigation by Neil Mackay | 16 October 2005
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In exclusive interviews with the Sunday Herald they blew apart any justification for the rendition system, saying the US government deliberately refused to opt for a legal alternative to renditions which was presented to the President by the CIA and that the programme undermined Western democracy, damaged the prosecution of the war on terror and “contaminated British and US intelligence”.
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“Everyone from the President down had the option to make them PoWs, but they were arrogant. We believe al-Qaeda can get legitimacy from what we say and do, so there was a constant fear of giving them legitimacy by calling them PoWs.”

Scheuer accepts that targets were tortured both before and after 9/11. “I have no doubt about it,” he says. “You’d think I’m an ass if I said nobody was tortured. There was more of a willingness in the White House to turn a blind eye to the legal niceties than within the CIA. The Agency always knew it would be left holding the baby for this one.”
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There is no question in Murray’s mind that the British government knew that intelligence reports they were receiving were the results of torture. “I sent telegrams to them saying that torture was going on,” he says. “They know, but they are deliberately blind to it. I warned ministers it was illegal. But the politicians were very keen to just keep going ahead. ...