TORTURE???? What Torture? We Don't Want To Talk About It. And we certainly don't want you to read about it....

This story is chronicled from "Emptywheel"at"Firedoglake"..
"Judge: Government Can Shield Its Conversations about Engaging in Torture"

Federal Judge Rosemary Collyar basically argued that the President’s need to get candid advice on how to make torture legal trumps citizens’ right to know about such illegal activity.

The ACLU has been trying to get the Government to remove more redactions in an OPR report on torture memos. In her ruling she states "While the Court recognizes the public’s interest, this interest does not overcome the need for frank discussions on serious issues that confront a President. Without a free and candid dialectic, the President cannot be properly armed with the tools required to make difficult decisions on consequential issues."

In other words,..... If The President (in this case G.W. Bush) thought he was going to have his words and questions scrutinized by the public, it would hinder his ability to make decisions concerning "the enhanced interrogation process".

Furthermore.... "Because the declaration sufficiently details its rationale for redaction, and because the public’s interest does not overcome the privilege in this case, the Court finds that Defendant has satisfied its burden as to the limited redactions withheld pursuant to the presidential communications privilege."

Sorry ACLU, but you're "S.O.L."(that's "shit out of luck" for those who don't know the phrase), pursuant to "Presidential privilege".
Where the Judge's decision really gets crazy, is that she also ruled that redactions that were in this text that from conversation that occurred while President Bush wasn't even present, were still under the auspices of "Presidential Privilege", effectively shielding statements and questions from Dick Cheney and Roberto Gonzales, as well.

Where Judge Collyer’s opinion gets even crazier, is where she accepts the government’s argument that, having left its discussion about “mock burial” unredacted in one instance, it does not have to reveal the other instances. (Yeah, that makes perfect sense, doesn't it?)

Why am I not surprised by this? The public's right to know, as described in the Freedom of Information Act, has just been effectively swept under the rug..... once again.