Won't spend a day in jail

Dubya casually admitted that he's guilty of war crimes, and that he'd do it again. Never mind that. The real outrage comes from Paul McCartney.

Wait, let's send this guy to jail instead.

Turning over another rock

And finding the horror squirming in the light. That's what happened this week as more torture information is being revealed. Today McClatchy reported that the Bush administration pressured interrogators to torture detainees into claiming a connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaida.

A former senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the interrogation issue said that Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld demanded that the interrogators find evidence of al Qaida-Iraq collaboration.

"There were two reasons why these interrogations were so persistent, and why extreme methods were used," the former senior intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.

"The main one is that everyone was worried about some kind of follow-up attack (after 9/11). But for most of 2002 and into 2003, Cheney and Rumsfeld, especially, were also demanding proof of the links between al Qaida and Iraq that (former Iraqi exile leader Ahmed) Chalabi and others had told them were there."

That's right. People were tortured not because they were lying, but because they were telling the truth.

"Cheney's and Rumsfeld's people were told repeatedly, by CIA . . . and by others, that there wasn't any reliable intelligence that pointed to operational ties between bin Laden and Saddam, and that no such ties were likely because the two were fundamentally enemies, not allies."

Senior administration officials, however, "blew that off and kept insisting that we'd overlooked something, that the interrogators weren't pushing hard enough, that there had to be something more we could do to get that information," he said.

Cheney and Rumsfeld didn't give a damn whether it was true or not. They didn't give a damn that torture didn't work. They just wanted some cover. This began as early as the summer of 2002.

Last night Rachel Maddow interviewed former executive director of the 9/11 Commission Philip Zelikow who had written a memo against the use of torture. Not only did the Bushies ignore it, they sought to suppress it, to pretend it never happened.

They knew it was illegal. They didn't care. It was party time. These scumbags gave themselves absolute power over other people's lives, bodies and sanity and crushed them just to show how tough they were. They and their enablers on the Democratic side, like Jane Harman, who is shocked, shocked, I tell you, that they would abuse their self-bestowed powers.

Obama who is reluctant to get involved in an investigation and possible prosecution, has gotten hammered (yes!) by the Left for it, has still left the door open. We'll see if anyone steps through it.

I've said this before and I'll keep saying it until it happens or I die, these people belong in prison.

In our names

Obama's decision to release four OLC memos confirms what a lot of us already knew. The United States of America engaged in criminal acts of torture.

This is the result of  a government that has lost its moral bearings. These memos show that the Bush administration at the highest levels instituted torture even when it knew it was on shaky legal standing. One of the authors of these memos, Jay Bybee is still deciding fates of Americans as a federal judge. He needs to be held accountable. They all need to be held accountable. 

If you are an American, if you believe in the Constitution, if you believe we are better than this, make some noise. These monsters cannot be allowed to get away with this, for if they do, the next time (and there will be a next time) it might be you. Pat Leahy wants an inquiry, which is a start, but we need a special prosecutor. Tell the White House. Sign the ACLU's petition, or FireDogLake's petition.

The case for prosecution

We're in the final week of the eight-year nightmare that has been the Bush Administration. Most Americans are glad to see him finally leave, allowing us to begin the healing process. Bush, on the other hand, will amble off to a comfortable retirement, having learned few lessons from his toxic term in office. Those of us on the left, who called for his impeachment a few years ago are now asking whether Obama will investigate, much less prosecute Bush and his associates over possible war crimes.

There are two main reasons why investigating and, if necessary prosecuting members of the Bush Administration. First, we need to ask ourselves what kind of nation we are. Are we a nation of laws, a nation that works with other nations to foster justice and democracy around the world? Or are we an empire whose maintenance justifies any action?

Second, If we decide that things like torture and the elimination of basic civil liberties are acceptable for the President to use, do we draw a new line that the President can't cross or do we leave the door open for a dictatorship down the road?

We know that the USA under Bush committed war crimes. Bush admitted it. Cheney admitted it. CIA Director Michael Hayden admitted it. Books have been written about it.

Cheney in recent interviews has been not only unrepentant, his admissions are essentially daring Congress to go after him. Cheney is betting that they won't. This will establish a precedent that future Presidents who want unlimited power can hide behind.

Some congresspeople like John Conyers want to investigate. The media, who were on the bandwagon all along, naturally wish it would all go away.

Obama and the Democrats had an epic win. Republicans are arguing amongst themselves and Karl Rove's Permanent Majority is rubble. But these people are like weeds that can't be killed. They never give up. Just like Cheney and Rumsfeld learned at Nixon's knee, loyal young Bush stormtroopers, like this guy, will wait, and have their time again.

War Criminals

Lots of info lately on the authorization, nay, encouragement of torture by the Bush Administration. First, via Meteor Blades at Kos, the stunning report by Physicians for Human Rights called Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by the US. This has accounts by the victims backed up by medical tests. The PHR is a  human-rights organization that shares the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize and demonstrates that international standards for the treatment of prisoners were willfully broken by the White House and the Defense Department.

Another article from the Guardian via C&L depicts how Donald Rumsfeld overruled military lawyers who warned against using torture. C&L also writes that General Antonio Taguba, who investigated Abu Ghraib and was fired for doing his job to well, states that "there is no longer any doubt that the current administration committed war crimes."

Naturally, Congress's response to all of this is another toothless hearing.

"We do not torture."

A simple statement, another lie from George W. Bush. A Department of Justice report revealed just how much we torture and in how many ways. It shows FBI agents revolted by the conduct of military and CIA interrogator toward the detainees. It also shows that Rice, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and Gonzales knew and approved what was happening. Abu Ghraib was not an aberration, it was policy.

In an ironic reversal of the outsourcing of American jobs, the Chinese hired us to abuse their muslims. What do we have to show for it? Dropped charges. Captives driven insane by their treatment and unable to assist in their own defense.

This is what we've been reduced to. Our President and his cabinet are war criminals in every sense of the word and should bee incarcerated in the Hague.

This post ties in with the previous one because the ACLU was instrumental in uncovering and analyzing this information.

Our Government Tortures

Last week ABC News broke the story that members of Bush's cabinet, including Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft outlined our country's new torture policy. This is in violation of the UN and the Geneva Convention. Bush approved it. These people belong in a call in the Hague. Crooks & Liars and the ACLU want to send 100,000 letters to congress to demand a special prosecutor. Join in.

The Bottom Line on McCain

He was tortured in Vietnam. He voted to continue torture. He sold out his own principles. It's that simple.

Entertainment

I ground off another couple of microns of tooth enamel today reading about John Yoo's torture memo. The pudgy, smirking sociopath wrote 81 pages of legalese in an attempt to justify the Bush Administration's pursuit of torture in Iraq and Guantanamo. The gist of it was, "we can do this because we say we can, so there."

These people must all be closet sadists. They must get tautly tumescent at the thought of naked prisoners struggling with their heads held under water. There have been volumes written as to why the Bush administration wanted Iraq so bad. Maybe it wasn't about oil or the Rapture or one-upping the old man. Maybe they just wanted some videos to watch by themselves, with some lotion and paper towels.