On this Date in Bush History 12/20: “amateurish & unreliable”

2000: President-elect Bush says today: “Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature, because it is a product that we can find in our own neighborhoods.”

2004: A memo by three-star general James ‘Ron’ Helmly, dated today, revealed a “deepening concern” about troop readiness in the Army Reserve. Helmly said that the Reserve is rapidly degenerating into a “broken” force. The general’s letter is more evidence of the harm done to the U.S. military’s capabilities by the tremendous strain caused by the Iraq war.

2006: An AP-AOL News telephone poll is being conducted today. From December 19th through the 21st, just over 1000 adults from every state in the continental U.S. were queried: “If you were asked to name a famous person to be the biggest villain of the year, whom would you choose?” The most frequent answer, given by one out of four respondents, was George W. Bush.

2006: A report prepared for the government’s Intelligence Science Board is released this month. The report reviews techniques used by the government to obtain information from captives. The report concluded: “the harsh techniques used since the 2001 terrorist attacks are outmoded, amateurish, and unreliable”. Specialists say that there is no proof that harsh interrogation techniques are the best way to get information. Billions are spent on new technologies such as spy satellites but the government invests little in the study and development of interrogation techniques, an essential tool in the age of terror. The study suggests that methodologies developed by experienced police detectives could be helpful additions to the government’s interrogation tool set. Given that this is the administration that gave us the botched response to Katrina and the botched occupation of Iraq, “amateurish, and unreliable” interrogation techniques seem par for the course.