Ali Soufan Can’t Be Seen

Live from Dirksen Senate office building 226: you’re not going to see former FBI agent Ali Soufan, one of the two stars of today’s Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing on torture. Over by the far side of the room is a wood-paneled maroon partition — it looks like something behind which a Victorian lady would change clothes — and Soufan is going to testify behind it. There’s a metaphor about openness in there somewhere. Senate staffers are making jokes about splitting the hearing into formal-wear and swimwear components.

Meanwhile, the chairman of today’s hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is lambasting the Bush administration’s “avalanche of lies” about the efficacy of torture.