The Two Guys Who Think Torture is a Joke … Where is the Media?

Yesterday the two leading architects of the Bush reign of torture made a breathtakingly arrogant and evasive appearance before the House Judiciary Committee. Today I kept my eyes and ears open for what should have been a flood of outrage – reporting perhaps? – on these two and the damage they have inflicted on America. The result?

Oh come on! You know what the result was! Deafening silence. OK – our friends on the left tried their best (kudos Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy) – but everywhere else it was pretty much Barak & Hillary. Oh, and a day later, a pretty feeble OpEd from Bob Herbert.

When something as foul as torture is on the table, there is a tendency to avert one’s eyes from the most painful truths. It’s a tendency we should resist.

Really? Resist Mr Herbert? Like we should resist our tendency to go “mmm” when we see a nice piece of chocolate cake?

Now I don’t claim to know much, but I have heard there are these things called international treaties and the US has unilaterally run roughshod over too many of them in the past seven years, causing incalculable damage to it’s reputation, those treaties, and life on this planet.

So David Addington, (now Dick Cheney’s chief of staff) and John Yoo, (now a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley – seriously Berkley what were you thinking??) spent the afternoon stalling for time and merrily avoiding answering any questions and probably chuckling to themselves about how clever they were. And, of course, wondering what kind of treat Dick might give them later.

John Conyers (D-Mich.), Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Artur Davis (D-Ala.) tried their damndest though but it was a VERY frustrating experience for all concerned.  Here’s the ACLU trying to find a sliver of a lining:

[Rep. Davis] pointed out that at the time the torture memos were authored, during the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses, the Legislative branch was busily rubber-stamping every national security request President Bush made, from the FISA expansion to the Patriot Act. “If you had come to this Congress and asked, you would’ve gotten what you wanted,” Davis said. So why couldn’t the White House consult Congress on how to amend its interrogation policies, especially with Republican friends chairing the House and Senate Judiciary Committees?

Why, Indeed.

So, here’s your New York Minute challenge: Click on any of the videos below and try to watch a minute without yelling at your computer. OK, maybe do it in private. (I mean when you think nobody is watching/listening/spying on you).

Now pick which of the following things these two clowns have NO interest in:

The truth

The Law

The Constitution

Respecting the United States Congress

Respecting the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

Upsetting Dick. 

(Talk amongst yourselves)

Ah yes, another day passes and the slithering meandering time-wasting non-answers of this Administration and its surrogates continues to ensure that a little thing called accountability remains as elusive as it ever was.

Just don’t forget, George W. Bush apparently can order you “Buried Alive”.

jxx

Enjoy…

YouTube : John 'Torture Memo' Yoo

YouTube : Dick Addington

Thanks to: The Brilliant and Provocative Randi Rhodes: http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?showtopic=3513