What the new Jim Comey torture emails actually reveal
Comey begins by noting that OLC lawyer Patrick Philbin had expressed numerous objections to the Bradbury memo -- all of which were being ignored in the rush to give the White House what it wanted:
Comey then noted that he, too, had "grave reservations" about the DOJ legal opinion:
Does that sound to you like there was unanimity in the DOJ about the legality of these methods?
As a result of his objections, Comey went to Attorney General Alberto Gonazles to urge that the memo not be approved, but Gonzales told him that he was under extreme pressure from Dick Cheney, David Addington, Harriet Miers -- and even Bush himself -- to get these memos issued:
Comey urged Gonzales to stop the approval of the "combined techniques" memo, warning it would "come back to haunt him":
The following day, Comey noted that the loyalty of DOJ lawyers lay with the White House, not with the Justice Department, and they were thus willing to comply with the demands of Cheney and Addington even at the expense of their duties as DOJ lawyers:
