A wide variety of Bush/Cheney administration officials, including former President George W. Bush himself, "decided to link arms" recently and defend the torture policies the U.S. used in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. They have not yet seen the Senate Intelligence Committee report, due to be released today, but they've been eager to argue against disclosure, all while launching a p.r. campaign of sorts before the world better understands exactly what they did.

It's a curious argument: "We didn't do anything wrong, but for the love of God, please don't tell anyone what we did."

Leading the charge, not surprisingly, is former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has not read the report, but is nevertheless comfortable dismissing it as "hooey."

"What I keep hearing out there is they portray this as a rogue operation and the agency was way out of bounds and then they lied about it," he said in a telephone interview. "I think that's all a bunch of hooey. The program was authorized. The agency did not want to proceed without authorization, and it was also reviewed legally by the Justice Department before they undertook the program."

Referencing CIA officials responsible for executing the administration's torture policies, Cheney told the New York Times, "They deserve a lot of praise. As far as I'm concerned, they ought to be decorated, not criticized."