those non-existent secret prisons where americans don't torture people are necessary

So -- the de facto President has denied that the CIA or anybody else in the employ of the United States tortures people, despite Dick Cheney's passionate opposition to John McCain's amendment to spell out clearly that all US government employees are banned from conducting torture.

And we deny the existence of secret prisons in Europe. In response to a formal request from the European Union, Secretary of State Rice is expected to rebut during her upcoming trip to Europe reports by the Washington Post and various human rights organizations that such prisons do exist. In fact, she is expected to claim that various European governments were aware of the operations (whose existence we deny) so back off.

Meanwhile, a senior State Department official Elizabeth Cheney, defending her dear old dad (VP Cheney), told Arab reporters this week that we had to use a "new set of rules" when dealing with terrorists, referring specifically to tactics used at our not-secret detention center at Guantanamo.