Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Time to take Dick Cheney into Custody

I couldn't agree more. Here's the first and last paragraphs of a good post by ondelette at FDL:

I don't write about torture as much as I used to. But I do think a little clarification of what the law is, and what the obligations of Eric Holder and Barack Obama under the Convention Against Torture are, is in order. Further, if Mr. Holder, as expressed, wants to prosecute those who went beyond the good faith interpretation of the Department of Justice memos, then with all due respect, Mr. Attorney General, Richard B. Cheney should be a target of those investigations.

Hereinafter followeth the litany of crimes and an admission by the unrepentant evildoer.

In other words, Mr. Cheney is to be taken into custody on the allegation of torture, at the beginning of the proceedings, before the preliminary inquiry, not at the end, and foreign governments are then to be notified as to whether or not the arresting state is going to "exercise jurisdiction", i.e. conduct investigation, prosecution, punishment, and reparations. And there is nothing in the CAT specifying that special procedures are to be taken for former members of the fourth branch of government, regular guests on Sunday talk shows, or people whose daughters claim "political controversy" or "policy debate" on TV. U.S. Marshals, your duty is clear.

Go get him. Make Marshall Dillon and Mary Shannon proud! They're fictional characters of course, but the idea that Cheney is going to be arrested is fantasy even though it is supremely warranted.

Update:

Bob Cesca's Awesome Blog!

Cheney and the 'No Attacks Mythology'

I guess the other thing that offends the hell out of me, frankly, Chris, is we had a track record now of eight years of defending the nation against any further mass casualty attacks from Al Qaida.

You know which other two-term administrations had "eight year track records defending the nation against any further mass casualty attacks from Al Qaida?"

All of them.

Every two-term administration ever can boast the same thing.

And they achieved it without selling out our values and breaking international law. Sorry, Dick, but you're a liar, a coward and a war criminal.

Bob forgot 'traitor'.

There are laws against us lying to the authorities, from the local cops on up, but there seems to be no law against them lying to us even if it starts an unnecessary war. There ought to be. Perhaps it comes under 'high crimes and misdemeanors'. Like treason.

Traitors and war criminals hang.

Cowards have to live with themselves. The same lack of character that makes them cowards makes it easy for them. Cowardice seems to be a 'moral value' amongst neocons although they think nothing of sending others into harm's way for no good reason.

They say a coward dies a thousand deaths. I'll settle for one state-sponsored one in Cheney's case.

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