Holder May Probe Torture

This Newsweek article (release today from the pending July 20 publication) proclaims in its subheading, “Obama doesn't want to look back, but Attorney General Eric Holder may probe Bush-era torture anyway.” In the article the author, Daniel Klaidman, says, “For a new administration to reach back and investigate its predecessor is rare, if not unprecedented.” When compared with the “unprecedented” lawlessness which was the hallmark of the Bush Administration, that ridiculous excuse holds no water.

On the release of the “torture memos,” Klaidman writes:

Holder and his team celebrated quietly, and waited for national outrage to build. But they'd miscalculated. The memos had already received such public notoriety that the new details in them did not shock many people. (Even the revelation, a few days later, that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and another detainee had been waterboarded hundreds of times did not drastically alter the contours of the story.)

It is truly dishonest to make such a claim when the mainstream media—in the few instances in which the memos were mentioned at all—uniformly derailed the debate by using highly political (in MSM terms, “non-judgmental”) terminology to frame the issue (e.g. “enhanced interrogation techniques” and methods “which some call torture”) and quickly changed the debate to “did it work?” This was immediately followed by the obscene Cheney Torture Media Tour in which the former Vice Torturer repeatedly claimed that these “techniques” had “saved thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of lives.” A few public statements by President Obama and Attorney General Holder would have gone a long way toward refocusing the conversation.

If AG Holder hasn’t yet heard the voices of outrage, let’s help him out. He can be contacted at:

Office of the Attorney General
Phone: 202-514-2001
Email: AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Fax:202-307-6777

Torture Must Be Punished

This article by Susan Goering appearing in today's Baltimore Sun is a must read. This excerpt very succinctly counters those who decry "looking back" as political:

The effect of these remedial steps [investigations and prosecutions] would not be, as some have suggested, to criminalize politics. On the contrary, to attempt to "move on" while standing on a foundation of unacknowledged criminality would be to politicize criminal conduct.

Like Lemmings to the Sea--Deadly Complacency

Led by Pied Piper Obama, encouraged almost universally by Congress, and endlessly cheered on by the MSM, we as a nation are becoming more and more intrinsically complicit in the atrocities of the Bush Administration. This excellent cartoon by Tom Tomorrow reminded me of several warnings which have been voiced over the past months and years.

In July of 2008, I wrote this article, The Precipice of Congressional Complicity.

For me, one of the truly disheartening things about witnessing the FISA debacle in both the House and Senate was seeing the sheer enormity of apparent complicity among members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.

I also revisited this May 2008 article by the ever-prescient Glenn Greenwald, Growing Responsibility for the Bush Torture Regime.

The more time that goes by and the more we learn — particularly if we do nothing meaningful to stop it — the more the responsibility for these policies shifts from the administration to all of us collectively.

If that observation were true months ago (it was), then several torture memos, leaked photographs, interviews with numerous CIA, government, and legal sources, and quite a few nationally televised confessions by war criminal (and utterly creepy guy) Dick Cheney later, its truth is even more compelling.

We Are All Torturers Now By Mark Danner was published in the New York Times way back in January of 2005. In that article, Danner said:

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Americans began torturing prisoners, and they have never really stopped. However much these words have about them the ring of accusation, they must by now be accepted as fact. From Red Cross reports, Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba's inquiry, James R. Schlesinger's Pentagon-sanctioned commission and other government and independent investigations, we have in our possession hundreds of accounts of "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment - to use a phrase of the Red Cross - "tantamount to torture."

Danner goes on to say, “By using torture, we Americans transform ourselves into the very caricature our enemies have sought to make of us.”

Over four years later, with a Democratic president, Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, and an undeniable mandate from the American electorate, we—as a nation—have still done essentially nothing (except to further entrench the extra-legal circumstances which led to these abuses). We don’t need any more debates. We don’t need any truth commissions. What we need is the immediate commencement of trials and prosecutions of those who committed these heinous war crimes in our names. Until we correct the egregious wrong turn in our national direction, “looking forward” will only serve to keep leading us down that same path—right over the cliff.

Talking out of Both Sides of Their Mouths

(Or is that “Buttering Both Sides of Their Bread”?. . . well, they have been doing a lot of teabagging lately!)

UPDATED 5-19-2009

The Republicans have stooped to new lows in the latest incarnation of the torture “debate.” Their current inconsistencies are so muddled, moronic, and absurd that it’s hard to believe they’re getting any play time in the media (OK, not too hard to believe considering the intellectual dishonesty of the MSM).

They want to insist that the United States has never tortured. Yet, not only did the torture work, if we don’t continue to torture the ubiquitous Scary Terrorists will annihilate us.

The Bush Administration broke no laws, but if they did, it was only to protect us, and they should absolutely not be investigated (and certainly not prosecuted). Yet, we definitely MUST investigate what Nancy Pelosi knew about torture and when she knew it.

Only the radical “Left” advocates investigations (though almost 75% of Americans are in favor—an awfully skewed left), and only for highly partisan reasons. Yet most of those calling for investigations believe in equal application of the law and want everyone who might have played a role in conspiring to create a system of torture—Republicans and Democrats alike—to be subject to investigation (many of us radical lefties have been calling for investigations of Reid, Pelosi, Rockefeller, et. al. for over two years).

The Republicans are the real Patriots, supporters of the troops, and true Americans. But they’re also the ones who are advocating total disregard for the defining characteristics of American Democracy: the Constitution and the Rule of Law. (Some, like the f*cking brilliant governor of my home state, are even suggesting secession, stupid asswipe!).

Those of us who think sending our troops into harm’s way based on brazen lies, violating their contracts with stop-loss, and bringing them home to inadequate health care and benefits is anything BUT supporting our troops (but as long as you put a bumper sticker on your car, it doesn’t really matter); those of us who think suspending habeas corpus, torturing and murdering prisoners (many of whom we know are completely innocent) expressly for the purpose of eliciting false confessions to justify our illegal wars of aggression, feloniously spying on our own citizens, ignoring Congressional subpoenas and court orders, and otherwise eviscerating the Constitution (that “god dammed piece of paper”) are things we should not be doing are labeled as “UnAmuhrkan.”

The cognitive dissonance of the right is astounding! Maybe any health care reform needs to include automatic psychotherapy for all registered Republicans?

Related to this post, it seemed appropriate to dredge up this lyric, posted quite some time ago.

UPDATE
This article by Matthew Yglesias on The Daily Beast, GOP's Torture Tricks Backfire, adds more perspective on this topic.

Torture and Hypocrisy

UPDATE BELOW
UPDATE II--July 26, 2009

The unlikely and incestuous relationship between the extreme right in American politics and fundamentalist/evangelical “Christianity” has been evident for several decades now. This alliance has led to full-throttled support by the “religious right” of political ideologies such as the favoring of CEOs and mega-corporations over the individual; plundering our air, water, and land for profit; cutting aid to the poor and the most vulnerable in our society; rampant colonialism, etc. This unholy marriage reached its peak during the Bush Jr. years. No matter how many times Dubya stood in front of the nation telling bald-faced lies; no matter how many times he negated legitimately drafted and ratified legislation with signing statements; no matter how egregiously he broke laws, violating the most basic civil rights; no matter how many soldiers died; no matter how many men, women, and children were killed by our bullets and bombs; no matter how often or how overtly he unilaterally set aside the Constitution; church-goers across the nation unblinkingly supported him—even going so far as to say he was doing “God’s work.”

A recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Family Life confirmed what most of us already suspected: the “religious right” is full of charlatans and hypocrites. A large percentage (62%) of those who identify as white, evangelical Protestants believe torture is either “sometimes” or “often” justifiable. How someone who purports to be “Christian” can espouse that belief is completely beyond my comprehension.

Luke 6:31
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

1 John 2:4
The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Matthew 5:39b
If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5
Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I seem to miss the part where Jesus said, “Blessed are the torturers.”

Prisoners, many of whom the government knew to be innocent, have been punched, kicked, and pummeled; had their bodies and heads slammed repeatedly against walls; been kept awake for days, even weeks, at a time; had their genitals sliced; been hung by their arms for prolonged periods; been electrocuted; been sexually molested and sodomized; endured forced nudity, humiliation, and degradation; been kept in cramped boxes, been made to experience near-drowning—one detainee an astounding 183 times; etc.

Read some of these descriptions of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” employed by our government:

. . . One detainee . . . alleged that: “I was punched and slapped in the face and on the back to the extent that I was bleeding. While having a rope around my neck and being tied to a pillar my head was banged against the pillar repeatedly.”
International Committee of the Red Cross

Another,

“I would be placed against a wall and subjected to punches and slaps in the body, head and face.”
International Committee of the Red Cross

These torture methods are identical to—in fact, were patterned after—those which have been used by despotic regimes against American soldiers. Those regimes without exception have been roundly condemned, tried, and prosecuted for these war crimes.

Dozens (we may never know how many more) of those tortured in our name have died—that is, have been murdered.

The killings, at least some of them, have hardly been kept secret. As early as May-June 2003, The New York Times and Washington Post reported on deaths of detainees in Afghanistan. Two detainees at Bagram air base died after extensive beatings by U.S. troops in December 2002—a case reported by The New York Times and that was also the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side. Another death involved a man beaten to death by a CIA contractor at a base in Asadabad, in eastern Afghanistan, in June 2003.

In September 2004, the Crimes of War Project, working with investigative journalist Craig Pyes, uncovered a torture murder in Gardez, Afghanistan, in March 2003. Jamal Naseer, a soldier in the Afghan Army, died after he and seven other soldiers were mistakenly arrested. Those arrested with Naseer later said that during interrogations U.S. personnel punched and kicked them, hung them upside down, and hit them with sticks or cables. Some said they were doused with cold water and forced to lie in the snow. Nasser collapsed about two weeks after the arrest, complaining of stomach pain, probably an internal hemorrhage.
John Sifton, The Daily Beast

Anyone who still thinks torture has a place in civilized society needs to look at these photos and imagine the subjects are your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, or parents.

Show me a Christian who supports torture, and I’ll show you a liar, an imposter, and a hypocrite!

UPDATE
This disgusting account by Jeremy Scahill of ongoing (and allegedly escalating) abuses by U.S. personnel should be required reading for every U.S. citizen. Everyone who has done this in our names--from the IRF goons to the guards and "medical" personnel who watched to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rice, Yoo, Bybee, Addington, and Gonzales, to the members of the "news" media who have withheld information or openly cheered on these demented and depraved actions, and now to Holder and Obama and all their c0-conspirators in Congress--should be tried and locked away for life.

Fuzzy the Conciliation Caterpillar by Mark Fiore

This is a great animated cartoon at SFGate.com which shows how ludicrous the "I want to look forward, not backward" mantra is.

Is Nancy Pelosi on Drugs?

From Ms. Pelosi's appearance on The View:

When I became Speaker, and this, by the way a very important position: President, Vice President, Speaker of the House. I saw it as my responsibility to try to bring a much-divided country together to the extent that we could. I thought that impeachment would be divisive to the country.

Etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.

I don't ask this question to accuse or insinuate, but to give the Speaker an out. If she's on drugs, everyone will forgive her after a brief stay at the Betty Ford Clinic. If, however, she doesn't have that excuse, she's simply arrogant and utterly stupid. You really have to watch this to believe it.

"President, Vice President, Speaker of the House"--sounds sort of like Bush's gaffe (I know, every time he opens his mouth it's a gaffe) at the G8 summit, "Russia's a big country and you're a big country." I think Speaker Pelosi has been in a few too many secret meetings with Dubya; she's starting to sound just like him.

This would be hysterically funny comedy if it weren't so profoundly serious. How dare she, in her "very important position" (in the fulfillment of which she can't even put a coherent sentence together), deign to declare "I thought that impeachment would be divisive to the country"? "I thought"????!!! Her "very important" opinion takes precedence over the Constitution of the United States?

What very little respect she allowed me to retain for her is rapidly ebbing from my soul (like the life-blood that's oozing from our democracy).

Impeachment News

Updated 7/30/2008
Update II 7/31/2008

I intend to post a lengthy review of the rather surreal hearings in the House Judiciary Committee last Friday, but am still trying to wrap my brain around the six hours of testimony. In the meantime, this article by Michael Collins is a very telling exposé on the coverage (or lack thereof) by the mainstream media.

This article on AfterDowningStreet.com talks about Nancy Pelosi's patently dishonest claim--on national television--that if someone would show her evidence of Bush's crimes, she would support impeachment hearings. Come on, Nancy, many of these crimes are a matter of public record. If you need some help, this document, put together by Elizabeth de la Vega, might help. Or check out this story, in which Bush admits to having knowledge of and approving "enhanced interrogation techniques," which the International Red Cross says were "categorically torture."

More to come. . . .

In this response to the question of impeachable offenses Bruce Fein makes a very clear case--and only in regard to one of the many charges which could and should be brought against Bush.

Another very strong argument for not only the moral imperitave of impeachment but also the potential political benefits is laid out in this article by occams hatchet posted on Daily Kos.