(Stays on top today - G)
Dick Cheney is offended! No shit. He's complaining the White House is "politicizing the Justice Department", because AG Holder is looking into the torture of "enemy combatants" at Gitmo and black sites around the world.
You know, not that any government agencies were politicized during the Bush administration. Not that the CIA was tasked to gin up evidence of Saddam's "WMD program" as an excuse to invade Iraq. Not that FEMA was led by a horse lover and political hack who knew nothing about emergency management and allowed New Orleans to drown. Not to mention our emails and correspondence - and who knows what else - collected and scanned for 'subversive activity'. Not that a whole buncha U.S. attorneys were fired because they wouldn't falsely prosecute Democrats and look the other way when it came to Republican irregularities. Not to mention the manipulation of the color-coded terrorist threat status system when it suited.
You see, this is an opening that could send Cheney to jail. Now, being the cynic that I am, I don't expect more than a few low-level operators to eventually stand trial. I don't expect to see Yoo, Addington, or anyone else from the former administration to go to jail, let alone Cheney. Holder is using Yoo's memos as the legal yardstick to begin with, as opposed to the Geneva Conventions and settled U.S. law. The fact Cheney is so worried makes me happy but the only way they'll get him is if someone turns. Hopefully, the investigation will put enough pressure on Yoo, or another puppet, to give up his masters.
I'm disgusted the probe has such a narrow focus but if it will make those in power think twice about arbitrarily breaking the law in the future, I'll consider it a good thing. In a perfect world, the Dems would have shoved the entire Bush term up the Republicans' collective ass and they'd jam a single-payer health care bill down their throats. Neither is going to happen with the 'leadership' we have in the Congress and White House now but any gain is better than sweeping the whole thing under the rug. If they had a set of testicles (or any political sense) among them, they would use the crimes of the Bush administration to cripple the Republicans to the point of irrelevance.
The fact Cheney is out there at all, let alone getting "offended" says the investigation is on the right track. The fact he's putting pressure on his pals in the Fourth Estate to back him up speaks volumes about the degree of his concern. If there is any sense in the White House, now would be the time to increase Holder's mandate. The news of the investigation becoming more 'wide-ranging' would certainly increase the pressure on those with consciences, on those who put more value on their own skins than those of their former employers, maybe even enough for them to come forward in an attempt to trade their knowledge of misdeeds for their freedom. One can only hope.
George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their henchmen belong in jail (whether it be a federal prison or a penitentiary in Holland) for what they've done to this country and I hope prosecutions are coming. In this world, however, I'd settle for a little truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment