[Crossposted to Loaded Orygun, Oregon's Progressive Community...]
A column that hasn't gotten a whole lot of attention in the Oregon blogosphere so far is one by the terrific Glenn Greenwald, now publishing at Salon.com. In it, Greenwald takes Senators Feinstein and Oregon's own Ron Wyden to task, for what he called backtracking on standards both had touted strongly over the last year regarding torture. Both had separately championed the Army Field Manual as a strong guide of accepted non-coercive techniques, and urged a unified American standard for all agencies following one guideline--which they said they hoped the AFM would fulfill.
(As an Oregon blogger, I'm going to leave Feinstein out of it.) Wyden's people gave a response, which left Glenn unsatisfied/unpersuaded. So I found the opportunity to ask Chief of Staff Josh Kardon for further clarification. Josh and I have a strong channel open, so I was confident I'd get some better insight into what Wyden is really thinking. Glenn's initial concern, the Wyden camp's first response, and my interactions with Kardon, all below the fold...