Philip Zelikow was no minor player in the Bush administration. First Bush appointed him the executive director of the 9/11 Commission and then he was Counselor of the United States Department of State, worked directly for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

This evening, Zelikow gave an exclusive first interview to Rachel Maddow in which he states that he wrote a memo informing all pertinent parties that he believed the tortue policies that have now been made public were illegal. He also states that the State Department tried to destroy all copies of his memo.

Zelikow was obviously aware that Bush had instituted very illegal policies and likely wrote this memo to protect his ass if shit ever hit the fan. Now that shit has indeed hit the fan, he is publicly trying to protect himself. I don't expect him to take people down, but nor do I expect him to protect anyone but himself.