16. Torture As Official U.S. Policy. We know that Gonzales, Addington and Pentagon and DoJ lawyers beholden to Rumsfeld devised legal rationales that make torture of suspects official state policy. These Bush-loyalist lawyers also greatly widened the definition of what is acceptable interrogation practice -- basically anything this side of death or terminally abusing internal organs.
They also authorized the "rendering" of key suspects to countries specializing
in extreme torture. After all this, Bush and Rumsfeld professed shock, shock!
that those under their command would wind up torturing, abusing and humiliating prisoners in U.S. care. But the Administration made sure to stop all
inquiries into higher-up responsibility for the endemic torture. The buck never stops on CheneyBush's desk. If something goes wrong (and they never will admit to mistakes), it's always someone else's fault. If and when Iraq "falls," the names of scapegoats are being prepared: al-Maliki, Democrats, the "liberal media" and bloggers, Bill Clinton, et al. Never Cheney, never Bush....#
[ For the rest of the items on this long list, and a summing-up connected to
the 2008 election, go to:www.crisispapers.org/essays8w/26things.htm ]
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Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for two decades, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). To comment:
First published by The Crisis Papers and Democratic Underground 9/9/08.
www.crisispapers.org/essays8w/26things.htm
Copyright 2008, by Bernard Weiner.
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