Is Helen Thomas a Moron?

If not, then some other 'Helen' in the White House press corps is.

We know that someone named Helen is saved from tremendous embarrassment by the fact that the White House briefing transcript does not identify the reporters who pose the questions:

Q Was the Mohammed on the front pages subjected to any torture in the secret prisons?

MR. SNOW: We don't -- again, the policy of this government is we do not engage in torture.

Q And so you can guarantee that he was not tortured in all the years of secret --

MR. SNOW: I'm telling you the policy is that we don't do torture, and furthermore, that there are -- very specific guidelines have been laid down in terms of the questioning of people who, in fact, have been in U.S. custody.

Q But after it was all revealed. How do we know -- I mean, this is -- why would you send them to secret prisons in the first place?

MR. SNOW: Well, I'm not going to -- Helen, we have been through long conversations about that. There was a big debate on Capitol Hill about this. We're not going to relitigate it.

Q So you're saying he was not --

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Yes. What possible reason could there be for keeping the location of some high-level captured terrorists secret, other than in order to torture them?

Is there a better demonstration of the ignorance of the press covering the war on terror than a question such as this one? Does it take a genius to figure out that a given location immediately becomes a target if information like this becomes known?