In other words: A discussion of The Bush Administration
To follow up B's excellent post below:
Soldier Described White House Interest
The head of the interrogation center at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told an Army investigator in February that he understood some of the information being collected from prisoners there had been requested by "White House staff," according to an account of his statement obtained by The Washington Post.
Blah blah...
But this is what the heart of B's post below is about:
Bush: U.S. Expected to Follow Law On Prisoners
SAVANNAH, Ga., June 10 -- President Bush said Thursday that he expects U.S. authorities to follow the law when interrogating prisoners abroad, but he declined to say whether he believes torture is permitted under the law.
Pressed repeatedly during a news conference here about a Justice Department memo saying torture could be justified in the war on terrorism, Bush said only that U.S. interrogators had to follow the law.
...
A second questioner asked Bush whether he would authorize "any means necessary" to elicit information from a prisoner who had information about an imminent terrorist attack. The president replied: "What I've authorized is that we stay within U.S. law."
Pointing out that the administration lawyers who wrote the memo believe terrorist suspects could be tortured without violating the law, a third questioner asked whether torture is ever morally justified. "Look, I'm going to say it one more time," Bush replied. "Maybe I can be more clear. The instructions went out to our people to adhere to law. That ought to comfort you." Yes I meant to make that whole paragraph bold.
I'm not answering you question, I'm trying to comfort you. What a sick bastard.
If that paragraph in bold doesn't make alarm bells go off in every newsroom in America we might as well have every newspaper close up shop. This administration believes it is above the law. It believes it is the law, and that the law of the land (which according to the constitution once congress ratified the Geneva Conventions, they became US law) can be interpreted to mean anything the President wants it to. How did the White House decide it had such extra-constitutional powers? Because some lawyers trained in the black arts down in the bowels of the Justice Department (where the crisco is stored) and the White House (where the pretzels are stored) said so... so there.
- rob 1:44 PM - [PermaLink] -
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