Bush Admits Ordering Torture

There is no doubt that the United States violated both U.S. and international law by torturing those it had designated as terrorists or enemy combatants -- prisoners taken in Iraq and Afghanistan and others deemed to be terrorists.   The only question was just who ordered the torturing of prisoners.

Right-wingers and Republican-apologists have claimed that the torture was something conceived and carried out at a very low level, and the Bush administration only learned about it after the fact.   Others (myself included) have long claimed that the orders to torture prisoners came from the very top -- the White House, and probably the president himself.   We never believed that low-ranking soldiers and CIA case officers would decide on their own to violate the law.

The most popular form of torture used was "waterboarding".   Both Bush and Cheney have tried to claim that waterboarding was not torture, and Cheney has claimed he was "a big supporter of waterboarding".   But waterboarding is viewed by people around the world, including President Obama and human rights experts, as torture.   The Washington director for Human Rights Watch, Tom Malinowski, says,   "Waterboarding is broadly seen by legal experts around the world as torture, and it is universally prosecutable as a crime."

So, waterboarding is torture and torture is a criminal act.   Guess who has now confessed to ordering the use of waterboarding.   That's right -- George W. Bush!   And he even has put it in writing.   In his new book Decision Points, which is to be released in a few days, Bush admits the CIA asked him if they could waterboard Khalid Sheik Mohammed and he told them,   "Damn right."   He even says he would do it again (and he probably did).

This is nothing short of a written confession of a criminal act by the former president.   Legal experts are shocked by Bush's confession, and believe it could leave him open to legal action in the future.   David Cole, Georgetown law professor, says,   "The fact that he did admit it suggests he believes he is politically immune from being held accountable . . . But politics can change."

Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that Bush has confessed openly about his crime.   He and Cheney have both considered themselves to be above the law.   Maybe they are, but they shouldn't be.   Anything that is against the law for an ordinary citizen is also against the law for a president (or vice-president).  

President Obama and Attorney General Holder have both said waterboarding is torture and is illegal.   Now George Bush has submitted a written confession that he ordered a prisoner to be tortured with waterboarding.   Isn't it time Bush was arrested and prosecuted?

Cheney Is Telling LIES About Torture !

Dick Cheney has been on a tear lately, trying to convince the American people that he's not a torturer. Ever since the Bush administration memos were released showing Cheney ordered "enhanced interrogation techniques" (torture), it seems like he's been on every radio and TV show that will have him. He's been trying to rehabilitate his image in hopes of warding off charges for ordering the torture. His three main points have been:

1. Waterboarding is not torture.
2. The purpose of the waterboarding was to save American lives.
3. Unreleased CIA memos show the waterboarding did save American lives.

Number one is ridiculous on it's face. Waterboarding has been recognized as torture since the end of World War II, when the Japanese were condemned for using it. After condemning it then, America cannot now claim it's not torture just because an American vice-president (and probably a president too) ordered it's use.

Everyone outside of America's right-wing clique knows waterboarding is torture, including a sizeable majority of the people in the United States. And anyone who has experienced it will quickly verify it is torture (just ask Jesse Ventura or radio commentator Mancow). Waterboarding is clearly torture, and Dick Cheney ordered it's use.

The only things up for discussion are whether it was used to save American lives, and whether it was successful in doing that. Sadly, it now looks like Dick Cheney was lying about both of those points also.

Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for Colin Powell when he was Secretary of State, has been investigating the use of torture by America since he was asked to look into it by Powell in 2004. After a relentless search into the matter, Wilkerson says, "Its principal priority for intelligence was not aimed at preempting another terrorist attack on the U.S. but discovering a smoking gun linking Iraq and al Qaeda."

Cheney was never trying to protect Americans. Instead, he was trying to justify the Bush administrations illegal and unnecessary invasion of Iraq. And he was willing to torture prisoners until they said what he wanted to hear. The truth didn't matter as long as he could claim Iraq and al-Queda were connected.

He was able to fool some in this country for a while, but the rest of the world knew it was a lie. Muslims all over the world knew that Saddam and Obama were bitter enemies who couldn't agree on anything, let alone work together in a conspiracy.

Cheney's last claim is that the waterboarding produced information that uncovered conspiracies and saved American lives. He has been demanding the release of two CIA memos that he says would prove this. Another lie. Senator Carl Levin's Senate Armed Services Committee has read the memos in question. Senator Levin says the memos do not back up Cheney's ludicrous claims.

Levin says the documents "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques. I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction".

All three of Cheney's claims are nothing but bald-faced lies. Lies designed to justify his own actions and protect his own ass.

Who Do You Believe ?

There are two men who are saying the opposite things about the interrogation technique known popularly as waterboarding. Which one do you believe?

The first is a former government official. He's also a chickenhawk. He went out of his way to avoid serving in the military, but doesn't mind sending others to war to serve and die. His name is Dick Cheney.

The other is also a former government official. He also served his country bravely as a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam era. His name is Jesse Ventura.

Dick Cheney has never been waterboarded, but he has ordered the waterboarding of others. Jesse Ventura was waterboarded as a part of his Navy SEAL training.

Dick Cheney says waterboarding is not torture and is harmless to the person being waterboarded. Jesse Ventura says, "If it’s done wrong, you certainly could drown. You could swallow your tongue. You could do a whole bunch of stuff. If it’s it done wrong or — it’s torture. It’s torture."

Dick Cheney says waterboarding is a valuable tool for getting prisoners to tell the truth. Jesse Ventura says "I'll put it to you this way, you give me a waterboard, Dick Cheney and one hour, and I'll have him confess to the Sharon Tate murders."

Both of these men can't be telling the truth, because they are saying the opposite things. Who do you believe. Personally, I'll believe the war hero over the war criminal.

Mukasey Still Playing Word Games About Torture

It looks like Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey is still playing word games with the Senate. While he says he opposes torture, he still refuses to say whether he believes the practice of "waterboarding" is torture or not.

Now this is not a hard question. All human rights groups have classified "waterboarding" as a form of torture. Even Congress calls it torture, having outlawed it in 2006. About the only person who doesn't believe it is torture is George Bush, who authorized its use in interrogating prisoners.

Yesterday, Mukasey said he thought the practice was "repugnant", but again refused to call it torture. That's not good enough. Lots of things are repugnant, but don't qualify as torture. Mukasey is trying to occupy some kind of middle ground between the Bush administration and the civilized world.

But that middle ground doesn't exist. Waterboarding is either torture or its not, and Mukasey should know that. It is very troubling that he will not say it.

It's not enough to say torture is wrong. Even George Bush says that, while continuing to torture at the same time. You must define what you mean by torture. Mukasey's refusal to define the term makes me think his definition may be as loose as the definitions used by Bush and Alberto Gonzales.

Would Mukasey authorize the use of torture? We cannot know since he will not define the term. Until he does, he should not be approved as Attorney General.