If only in light of the persistent reluctance of leading media outlets (including the New York Times) to use the word “torture” to describe what the Bush administration sanctioned and conducted under the name of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” today’s WaPo editorial is noteworthy:

The real culprits in this sordid story are those higher-ups, starting
with former president George W. Bush and former vice president Richard
B. Cheney, who led America down the degrading path of state-sanctioned
torture and left the next administration to cope with the fallout.

But also: Because the editorial gives the thumbs up to AG Holder for appointing a special prosecutor to look into possible crimes committed by CIA interrogators, this certainly implies, without saying it in so many words, that prosecutorial attention should be paid to those higher ups–something the AG seems to have ruled out. Isn’t it the business of a criminal investigation to go after the “real culprits.”