It was worth it, for us, because secret documents (allegedly) prove that plots were foiled, like the monstrous "Liberty City 6" conspiracy, now entering the jury phase of its third trial, after both previous trials ended with hung juries, because there were no guns or bombs or anything like a plan anywhere near this nonsense, and it was nothing but a bunch of dead-broke South Florida hustlers conning FBI informants into fronting them some cash.

But for an obviously partisan observer like Admiral Blair, who already announced his unconditional support for CIA interrogators, the "Liberty City 6" were enough of a menace to justify anything, if it made us .00001% safer.

And it didn't.

But the New York Times makes this garbage story a whole lot worse than it had to be, by inserting an admission that isn't really there into an otherwise inconsequential sound bite from President Obama.

"I'm sure that sometimes it seems as if that means we're operating with one hand tied behind our back or that those who would argue for a higher standard are naïve," he said. "I understand that. You know, I watch the cable shows once in a while."

But he added: "What makes the United States special, and what makes you special, is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and our ideals even when it's hard, not just when it's easy."

The Times interprets this to mean...

Mr. Obama's team has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the harsh interrogations, but in a visit to the C.I.A. this week, the president did not directly question that. Instead, he said, any disadvantage imposed by banning those tactics was worth it.

"Instead, he said..." But he didn't. He didn't postulate any "disadvantage." He only referred to a TV delusion.

So what?

Dick Cheney has been busily setting up Barack Obama as the fall guy in the event of a major terrorist attack within the United States, by claiming than restrictions on CIA interrogations make us less safe, and now he has a money quote from the New York Times.

(Obama) said "any disadvantage imposed by banning those tactics was worth it."

Boom! Do you think it was worth it now, Mr President?

This is a scene that writes itself for the Republicans, and now they can quote America's "newspaper of record!"

It's also a trick the Republicans have used before, when Bush officials leaked crazy rumors about nukes in Iraq to the New York Times on Saturday afternoon, and then quoted the "news" they had planted on the Sunday morning talk shows.

With impeccable timing, on the eve of the first anniversary of the September 11th attacks, top Bush officials appeared on the Sunday talk shows to discuss the aluminum tube story that someone among them had just planted in the New York Times.