H2O-pocracy

Think Progress:

DoJ Official Experienced Waterboarding, Told WH It Is Illegal, Was ‘Forced Out’

...in 2004 then-acting assistant attorney general Daniel Levin was so concerned about the administration’s use of waterboarding that he went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure himself.
...
ABC reported that after Levin personally experienced waterboarding, he told the White House that it could be considered torture:

After the experience, Levin told White House officials that even though he knew he wouldn’t die, he found the experience terrifying and thought that it clearly simulated drowning.

Levin, who refused to comment for this story, concluded waterboarding could be illegal torture unless performed in a highly limited way and with close supervision. And, sources told ABC News, he believed the Bush Administration had failed to offer clear guidelines for its use.

Levin was working on a second memo that would have imposed tighter controls on the use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.
While working on that memo, ABC reported “Levin was forced out of the Justice Department when Alberto Gonzales became Attorney General.”

Let me see if I understand this correctly...

An acting assistant attorney general of the United States, someone with authority to determine for legal purposes whether this treatment was torture, underwent the process himself, determined that it was indeed a form of torture administered in a seemingly lawless fashion, and was fired by his superiors when his views were made known because he was viewed not to be '...endorse(ing) White House policies' enthusiastically enough.

Some people never know how close to the edge they are, until they step over it.