It’s Confirmed: Dog Bites Man.

You may recall Colonel Laurence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Colin Powell who recently caused a…hullabaloo when he shocked, shocked everyone with his report of the existence of a cabal that has hijacked foreign policy under Bush. Well, Colonel Wilkerson now tell us the orders to torture prisoners came from the highest levels of government, specifically Cheney’s office.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad the good Colonel’s been able to put two and two together, but among others, investigative journalist Mark Danner’s been saying much the same thing all along, long before Bush’s ratings tanked (to still dismayingly high levels). Danner’s reporting on the torture scandal has been detailed, meticulous, superb, accurate, and ignored.

By the way, does Danner appear regularly on major network TV news or panels? Any rumors he might replace David Brooks at the Times, who has been screwing up royally (unless Brooks’s purpose has been to increase Friedman’s relative stature at the Times as a prose stylist and deep thinker)?

No harm in asking.