"Assertions apparently being made in the latest New Yorker article on Abu Ghraib and the abuse of Iraqi detainees are outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with error and anonymous conjecture. "

Lessee. I don't see denial here.

"The abuse evidenced in the videos and photos, and any similar abuse that may come to light in any of the ongoing half dozen investigations into this matter, has no basis in any sanctioned program, training manual, instruction, or order in the Department of Defense."

Of course not. No one said, "Go torture Gitmo prisoners." What they said was, "Get info any way you have to." Maintain this sort of "deniability" that way.

"No responsible official of the Department of Defense approved any program that could conceivably have been intended to result in such abuses as witnessed in the recent photos and videos."

Well, refuting the Geneva Convention could be interpreted by anyone with two neurons as being intended to allow these abuses.

This sort of "denial" was used over and over by Nixon, and when you see it you know there's a coverup.

And Hersh certainly has more credibility that the Bush Administration.

Arf