"I Did Not Torture That Man...Mr Lewinsky..."

A classified report from the CIA's inspector general last year warned the spy shop that their interrogation techniques adopted after 9/11 could violate the Convention Against Torture.

Instead of following the Convention, the CIA appears to have followed a 2002 Justice Department interpretation which said torture was treatment that had to be comparable to "organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death."

Steve Clemons at the Washington Note asks:

"Is this the 'it's not sex if there is no intercourse' line of thinking? "

That would put President Bush's "We don't torture" line up there with the "I did not have sex with that woman..." line from his predecessor. (Washington Note/NYT)[Photos: AP & BBC]