Many of us are hoping, almost demanding, an accounting for the crimes committed by the Bush administration. It would be deeply satisfying to see some of the law-breakers frog-marched... but possibly counterproductive.
But we need more than just justice - we need admissions. We need those who did wrong to acknowledge the wrong-doing, instead of letting them cry "I'm a victim of politics". We don't need more Oliver North-like convictions, where the perps deny everything and are back on the TV in the future claiming they did nothing wrong. Luckily, there's a way to satisfy both our need to see justice done and still avoid widening the rift between left and right.
Nelson Mandela showed us the way... follow me over the jump to see how we can follow his example.
A clear and urgent duty of the next president will be to investigate the Bush administration's torture policy and give Americans a full accounting of what was done in our name. It's astounding that we need some kind of truth commission in the United States of America, but we do. Only when we learn the full story of what happened will we be able to confidently promise, to ourselves and to a world that looks to this country for moral leadership: Never again.
That is the final paragraph of Eugene Robinson's column in today's Washington Post, entitled A Torture Paper Trail, inspired by the documents obtained under a FOIA request and then released by the ACLU. The column is, as is usually the case with Robinson, well worth reading. I am simultaneously reading Jane Mayer's The Dark Side, thus there is little in the documents that can totally surprise, but the effect of Robinson's column on top of what I read in the book is overwhelming. It requires me to insist once again on some kind of accountability for the misdeeds done by our Government. Only unlike Robinson, I want to examine more than just the misdeeds of the Bush administration.
As I've long suspected based on various reports coming forward, it appears that during the testimony of John Ashcroft before Congress that high profile detainees such as Abu Zubaydah were abused, tortured and waterboarded months before the Bybee and Yoo Memos offering legal justification for such actions were even written.
But during questioning, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., pointed out that the abuse of Zubaydah had reportedly begun weeks, if not months, earlier. "Did you offer legal approval of interrogation methods used at that time ... prior to August 2002?"
"I have no recollection of doing that at all," Ashcroft responded. He added that he did not remember anyone else at the Justice Department doing so either. He said later in the hearing that Zubaydah’s interrogation "was done without the opinion that was issued on the first of August."
So, while this review ran back in February (when the film won an Oscar for best documentary), it's still essential viewing for a rigorous and non-partisan examination of U.S. policies and procedures during the so-called War on Terror.
It's currently available on DVD. See it. (review on the flip)
So, terrorist: we meet again. Hey, it's just to talk, man. I just want to get inside your head and find out who gave you the idea to do all the bad things you've done. Let's start by having you take your shirt off. No? Here, I'll help you.
Hmmm.... I don't think that approach will work. Let's try another...
Now, terrorist, we have to get to know each other better, so you can get out of this Cuban hellhole. How about we get more comfortable? I've got a couple of Mai Tais here, and we can soak up some sun on these chaises, and...
Man! There must be something in the Army Field Manual covering this! Let's see: Ah, here it is. Forced removal of clothing is a Category II technique. Category II: banned by the Geneva Convention! So what do I do if he won't take his clothes off voluntarily?
Yesterday Rachel Maddow and Jonathon Turley talked about the Bush's lawyers, legal justification for torture and war crimes prosecution. Watching the exchange will make your blood boil.
The Bard wrote
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.
John Yoo, Monica Goodling, Kyle Samson and their king Alberto Gonzales make this sound like a great idea.
I am well aware that FISA is an oft-discussed issue here on Daily Kos. And I am well aware that some will consider this hysterical over-reaction. But, personally, I think this entire nation is suffering from a horrific complacency of inaction, and so I'm going to say my piece.
As I celebrate this July 4th weekend -- one of my favorite holidays; the anniversary of this website's birth; and the always joyous occasion of opening a play -- my thoughts are consistently drawn back to the pending FISA legislation in Congress and the issue of telecom immunity. This is not unnatural, because the pending FISA legislation is a betrayal of the principles of government which were laid down by our founding fathers more than two hundred years ago. Since I consider the July 4th holiday to be a celebration of those principles and the nation those principles established, I actually consider it a celebration of sorts to take these issues under consideration.
Stuart Taylor exhorts us not to support the prosecution of the worst offenders of the Bush administration for war crimes. They are not criminals just because they lied about WMD. They are criminals for the way they conducted the war: for torture, kidnappings and assassinatons. The criminality is not excused by their duty to keep the country safe: in fact they made us less secure and caused more American casualties in Iraq.
So who are these crazies asking for the appointment of a special prosecutor by the next administration?
Among those calling explicitly or implicitly for criminal investigations are 56 House Democrats; retired Maj. Gen. Anthony Taguba, who headed the Army's investigation into the Abu Ghraib torture scandal; liberal groups including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the ACLU; human-rights lawyers including Scott Horton of New York and Philippe Sands of London; and the New York Times editorial page. Retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, has raised the possibility of prosecuting current and former administration lawyers "in a foreign court, or in an international court."
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (June 26) - A millionaire who inflicted years of abuse on two Indonesian housekeepers held as virtual slaves in her Long Island mansion was sentenced Thursday. The victims testified that they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, and forced to climb stairs and take freezing showers as punishment. One victim was forced to eat chili peppers against her will, then was forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn't keep the peppers down, prosecutors said.
I thought all the crossable lines had already been crossed. Clearly I was wrong. It appears, after yesterday's Congressional hearing on the current administration's use of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' (aka torture) that there is a vast grey area which could cross us further into outrageous behavior in the war on terror.
After everything we have seen and heard, the mismanagement and misdirection that has led to to the losses of thousands of lives -- by some estimates more than a million -- and trillions of dollars wasted for a cause that seems at least partially inspired by greed; and the neglect of our country's infrastructure, our food security, our healthcare, etc... Really too many lines have been crossed already into the wrong side of morality -- for what? we still don't fully know.
Cross posted from my blog at www.changinggearsmovie.com. Changing Gears is a project between myself and my fiancee to bike from Bloomington, IN to San Francisco to learn about and document sustainability in action. We're blogging and making a TV show and documentary as we go.
Last night when Melissa and I got back to the hotel, we settled in to relax a bit. I planned to blog, and she picked up the TV remote. As she flipped through the channels, I noticed John Yoo was on C-Span, and blurted out "that's the torture memo guy." It turns out that he and David Addington, Cheney's former counsel and now Chief of Staff were appearing before a House Subcommittee (I believe the Constitution Subcommittee). We watched for about an hour and a half as Yoo dodged and parsed questions, and lamely asserted that he'd been instructed by the Justice Department (where he formerly held a post under AG Ashcroft) not to answer this or that question. Addington was much more smooth, confident in his demeanor. Perhaps he feels he has less at risk here.
Nothing gets a young man's attention like visualizing testicles crushed in a vise.
Last February, when Alberto Gonzales spoke at Washington University in St. Louis, there were campus protests about giving the recently fired Gonzales a forum and paying him $30,000 to speak. The event was sponsored by the College Republican chapter. One of the club's officers was quoted in a news story:
"He has a unique perspective, he was a significant player in a lot of the events we've seen unfold. We can talk about Guantanamo, wiretapping, all the controversies, U.S. attorney firings...he's going to bring a point of view that we have not heard before."
I hope, that journalists around the world, are on their toes, tonight, and over the next few days.
Especially those stationed, and working, in Iraq, Guantanamo, Poland, Thailand, and wherever the Bush Grindhouse is keeping detainees, and/or has secret prisons.
Torture has spread hatred of America, recruited terrorists, and placed our soldiers at risk. It has betrayed our values, damaged our credibility, frayed our alliances, and undermined our ability to promote freedom and democracy.
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties hearing on detainee treatment will feature David Addington and John Yoo (under subpoena to appear) at 10:00 am (EDT)and still ongoing.
