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Too Clever By Half
President Bush is thinking about extending pre-emptive pardons to his torture-implicated cronies?
5 Responses to “Too Clever By Half”
We already know what they did. Key players in the Bush Administration have committed crimes in the form of torture and warrantless eavesdropping.
The logical step is to punish them for these crimes so they aren't committed by subsequent administrations.
All these pardons and truth squads will do is set a precedent for future lawbreaking. “Go ahead, torture people and ignore the constitution! We don't care, as long as you catalog it for us when you're done.”
Or maybe we should just extend that logic to the rest of the criminals in the country. We'll let everyone off scott free as long as they promise to confess to their crimes in public.
Under what world do you expect any criminal prosecutions to occur here? What truth commissions solve is the denial extant in much of the country that torture occurred. There's no parallel to a normal criminal case. And the open grappling with those sorts of atrocities — even in absence of criminal sanction — has proven effective in many states which have established truth commissions to dig into government sponsored human rights abuses.
While I don't “expect” prosecutions now, it isn't unprecedented. We seemed to have our act together when Congress went after Nixon. These crimes are far more serious, and we're going to do nothing? How the mighty have fallen…
There is no denial here either. The President has admitted he authorized waterboarding of KSM. What the rightwing is doing is muddying the water by claiming that waterboarding isn't torture and that KSM doesn't deserve Geneva protections.
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EDIT: I guess we both just disagree on the value of said “Truth Commissions.” I think it's an invitation rather than a deterrent to future abuses.
What do the following have in common?
Is Bush thinking about raping his dog?
Is Bush thinking about assassinating Obama?
Is Bush thinking about nuking NYC?
Is Bush thinking about committing Seppuku?
They are all as equally sourced as this story. A bunch of non-insiders idly speculating on what Bush 'might' do. And speculating on what he 'might' do that would allow them to heap yet more scorn on him
This is not journalism, nor even informed speculation. Hell, it is not even gossip, because no one claims to have talked to anyone with any information he might actually do this.
There is a word for this. Lying? Close, but no. Mendaciousness? Closer.
BULLSHIT! Yep, that is it.
He can't help it, it's a family tradition.