Funny, in some of these Letters to the Editor, readers talk (and complain) about how the NYTimes takes "high moral ground" in decrying "torture". "The Finding:

Funny, in some of these Letters to the Editor, readers talk (and complain) about how the NYTimes takes "high moral ground" in decrying "torture". "The Finding: U.S. Engaged in Torture" http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/the-finding-us-engaged-in-torture.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opinion/the-finding-us-eng... which refers to the Front Page story on April 16th that had headline: "U.S. Practiced Torture After 9/11, Nonpartisan Review Concludes," http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/world/us-practiced-torture-after-9-11-nonpartisan-review-concludes.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/world/us-practiced-torture... Keller, the executive editor during some of the Bush years, spoke as to why and when "torture" was and wasn't used. http://keller.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/the-t-words/ http://keller.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/the-t-words/ This is more informed then your shouts of "mouthpiece" and I hope it helps: "The word was freely deployed in editorials and Op-Ed opinions, but in the news pages we described the techniques as “brutal” – upgraded from “harsh.” When the word “torture” appeared, it was qualified by attribution (“according to…” or “widely denounced as…”). Hoyt, as the reader’s ombudsman, heard complaints from “some who think ‘brutal’ is just a timid euphemism for torture” and from readers on the other side “who think ‘brutal’ is too loaded.” The editors (I was one at the time) argued that what constituted torture was still a matter of debate, that this issue was not just linguistic but legal and had not yet been resolved by a court, and that the word was commonly applied to such a range of practices as to be imprecise. We contended that the best approach was to describe the techniques as fully as possible and let readers draw their own conclusions." === See also: "The Guantánamo Stain" (2013) http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/opinion/the-guantanamo-stain.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/opinion/the-guantanamo-sta... "It became the embodiment of his dangerous expansion of executive power and the lawless detentions, secret prisons and torture that went along with them. It is now also a reminder of Mr. Obama’s failure to close the prison as he promised when he took office, and of the malicious interference by Congress in any effort to justly try and punish the Guantánamo inmates." === "Sweeping Torture Under the Rug" http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/sweeping-torture-under-the-rug/ http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/sweeping-tort... "Meanwhile, in Washington, officials still won’t acknowledge Mr. Masri’s kidnapping and torture, which was just one example of President George W. Bush’s “extraordinary rendition program.”" === "Detainee Was Tortured, a Bush Official Confirms" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/us/14gitmo.html http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/us/14gitmo.html "A senior Pentagon official in the Bush administration said that interrogators had tortured a Guantánamo detainee." === "'Moderate physical pressure' : The painful lesson Israel learned about torture" http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/opinion/01iht-edfelner_ed3_.html http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/opinion/01iht-edfelner_ed3... "As the Abu Ghraib torture scandal keeps unfolding, ..."