Torturing for Political Excuses

Wow. I thought the 8 years of Republican "leadership" had already hit so many bottoms of decency but now I learn that we didn't just torture to try to find Osama or stop the next terrorist act, it was to force some of Saddam's henchmen to make a statement of collusion that would falsely link Iraq with Al Qaeda (and, of course, justify the U.S. invasion and help Bush say "SEE!").

This new information comes from Ali Soufan, an ex-FBI agent, who helped attain info from Abu Zubaydah by outwitting him.

Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s former chief of staff at State, wrote that the “harsh interrogation in April and May of 2002 ... was not aimed at pre-empting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and Al Qaeda.” -- In The Washington Note, a political and foreign policy blog (reported in the NYTimes, Dowd).

Maureen Dowd of the New York Times reports that Soufan told Congress, "Torture is designed to force the subject to submit 'through humiliation and cruelty' and 'see the interrogator as the master who controls his pain.'"

Dowd continues, "It’s a good description of the bullying approach Cheney and Rummy applied to the globe, and the Arab world. But as Soufan noted, when you try to force compliance rather than elicit cooperation, it’s prone to backfire."

That sums up the entire difference between the Bush Republicans and liberal Democrats. The first are bullies who shove, lie, manipulate and humiliate in order to get their way. They can't see how sharing, talking, listening, and cooperating would help their cause. Anyone who listens and respects another's perspective is considered a sissy, a coward, and whatever other derogatory word that means you are not a man. Women, they think even less of you! On guard!

When will this middle-school nightmare end? You'd think that an election would settle it, but sore-losers don't go away quietly.

CIA and Torture

That high-ranking criminals are getting a pass by the generous Obama is repugnant to me. Why should a president get to decide that breaking the law is ok? That seeking justice for sadistic, malevolent, anti-American, criminal behavior is not "going backward" or taking "retribution" on past administration officials who supported such activities, but it is justice, and it moves us forward. When criminals get their due, THEN, ONLY THEN can we drop the matter. Once justice has been served, not before. We don't forgive petty criminals without examining the crime and issuing a punishment, why would we allow the powerful in the CIA to go scott free?

Here's a more persuasive editorial post by a reader of the New York Times:

Re “Memos Spell Out Brutal C.I.A. Mode of Interrogation” (front page, April 17):

President Obama has decided that the C.I.A. employees involved in the torture of terrorism suspects will not be prosecuted and has justified his position by stating that “this is a time for reflection, not retribution.”

I find it hard to believe that a man as intelligent as Mr. Obama, who once taught constitutional law, would equate the pursuit of justice with retribution. It makes it appear as if his decision is one of political expediency.

If holding the C.I.A. operatives accountable for violating federal or international laws is retribution, then the prosecution of ordinary citizens for crimes is also retribution.

The president does not have the authority to be selective about who should or should not be charged with a crime, and he has made a grievous error by confusing the pursuit of justice with retribution or retaliation.

If the president reached his conclusion not to prosecute because the C.I.A. agents were merely following orders, I would remind him that that defense did not hold up at the Nuremberg trials. Those involved must be tried and held accountable regardless of the political consequences.

Seeking justice is moving forward, not backward. The whole world is watching.

Chase Webb
Gresham, Ore., April 17, 2009

And from Keith Olbermann who gets it right:

Brave New Films

So she helped devise torture, too. Listen to her lies: