About this episode

This episode explores how American policy came to legitimize torture, focusing on the role of key figures like Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration's manipulation of language around the issue.

THE BLURB: If this story has a heart of darkness, this is it. How did American policy find its way to legitimizing torture? In this episode, we'll take you down that terrible road. America became a torturer because certain people - including then Vice President Dick Cheney - wanted us to be that thing. We'll also describe how the Bush Administration's wordplay, dancing around the word "torture", made torture inevitable. SHOW NOTES For more great podcasts like Dead Drop, please visit https://costardandtouchstone.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More episodes of John Kiriakou's Dead Drop

• S1E25 The Whistleblower · April 27, 2026 · 52 min
• S1E24 Moment Of Truth · April 20, 2026 · 57 min
• S1E23 Good Company, Bad Company · April 13, 2026 · 56 min
• S1E22 The Good, The Bad, The Ugly · April 6, 2026 · 26 min
• S1E21 End Of Times · March 30, 2026 · 35 min
• S1E20 Changes · March 23, 2026 · 54 min

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