Cheney and Fried Rice in Hot Water by Ray McGovern

[donsu]

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/12/con05475.html


European reaction to visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's statements on torture can be summed up in lead commentary Wednesday in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, among the most widely respected German newspapers. Under the title "Justice à la Rice," the editor "translated" her message into these words: "The end justifies the means and terrorism can be fought with borderline methods on the outer edges of legality." He added: "Rice came to Germany to begin a new era. She has resoundingly failed to do so. Injustice remains injustice, and a wrong policy remains a wrong policy. On this basis you cannot re-launch the trans-Atlantic relationship."

There was no mushroom cloud, but Rice is radioactive nonetheless. No matter how much she and the embedded reporters traveling with her tried to spin her words, they are falling on deaf ears in Europe. Even here at home, the administration is encountering unusual skepticism in the heretofore-domesticated media. The normally sleepy editorial side of the Washington Post, for example, found it possible to lead its first editorial yesterday by reminding readers that Rice broke no new ground in claiming Wednesday that US personnel - "wherever they are" - are prohibited from using cruel or inhuman interrogation techniques. This is hardly a profile in courage for the Post: The president's spokesman, Scott McClellan, had already told reporters that Rice was merely expressing existing policy.

-snip-

It is no secret that Cheney bears primary responsibility for making our country a pariah among nations by punching a gaping hole in the (until now) absolute ban on torture under international and US law. Under international treaties, including treaties ratified by the US Senate and thus the supreme law of the land, civilized societies have long since prohibited practices widely recognized as torture. No matter. At the instigation of the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal, the inherent human right to physical integrity and personal dignity has become an early casualty of the US "war on terror."

-snip-

Just five days after 9/11, the vice president told Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press:

"We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side ... a lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies ... it's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective."
-snip-
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well, snake Cheney, we are out in the sunlight saying you belong in a War Crimes Court NOW along with Condi and the rest of the gang.

[EFerrari]

1. So, Condi's Torture Tour went badly?

Good.

(And as I type this, idiot Blitzer asks, "Does torture work?")

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[POAS]

2. Let no one forget

that this administration redifined what constitutes torture to exclude such tactics as waterboarding. Under their tortured (no pun intanded) definition they can make such statements of denial because they are working under their own definition rather than internationally accepted norms.

[Danieljay]

3. It's not TORTURE!

Bill Frist says we don't torture, we degrade! Get it straight!

From FAUX News Propaganda:

"I think there will be clarification of what we mean. How aggressive can one be to get information -- not torture, but, you know, what does degrading mean? Do you not want to degrade a terrorist -- not hurt them, but degrade them -- if they're going to take out your family, if they're going to assassinate you? That's the question that's being worked out," said Frist, R-Tenn.

[cliss]

4. Moral of the story:

If you listen closely enough, people will usually tell you exactly who they are.

Look at this statement from Cheney: "We have to work the DARK SIDE". The dark side. Here Cheney himself is acknowledging what he wants to do. He knows damn well it's wrong. Time magazine presented this exact quote about 2 weeks ago. My blood ran cold when I read it.

Why would he advocate such a thing? The web site Counter Punch says that we "engage in torture because we can". There's no huge soul-searching, no gut-wrenching torment about killing people and the enormous suffering that goes along with it.

It's as calmly done as ordering a pizza over the phone.

We do it because we can.

[rodeodance]

5. Condi trying to ensure that Jr is not know as the 'torture pres" in histor

y books.

[rodeodance]

6. Mark Shields said the on News Hour (pbs) Friday night.

[rodeodance]

7. I think 'torture president" should be in all headlines!

[NoFederales]

8. I very much despise Rice and Cheney; and surely Europeans are not fooled

by her or her fascist friends.

NoFederales