It seems to me a rather simple question: does the United States support the use of torture?

Last week, Cheney was lobbying Congress to allow the use of torture under "certain circumstances" (which I take to mean – "Mondays through Saturdays").

So, we DO advicate torture.

But at the same time, Bush answered: "We do not torture".  And he’s the commander-in-chief, last time I checked the Constitution.

So, we DON’T advocate torture.

And now there’s this:

In an important clarification of President George W. Bush’s earlier statement, a top White House official refused to unequivocally rule out the use of torture, arguing the US administration was duty-bound to protect Americans from terrorist attack.

The comment, by US national security adviser Stephen Hadley, came amid heated national debate about whether the CIA and other US intelligence agencies should be authorized to use what is being referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques" to extract from terror suspects information that may help prevent future assaults.

So, we, uh, DO . . . uh, advocate torture?  Maybe?