Bush Administration Endorses Torture

This comes as no surprise to those of us in the reality-based community, but it still infuriates me:

Bush’s Justice Department secretly endorsed torture

Posted October 4th, 2007 at 8:10 am

In December 2004, Bush’s Justice Department issued a statement insisting that “torture is abhorrent.” It was an encouraging step from administration officials who were willing to concede that there were limits to presidential authority when it came to brutal interrogations.

But it was a lie — shortly thereafter, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed off on a secret legal opinion, which, as the New York Times reported today, endorsed “the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.”

The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.

Mr. Gonzales approved the legal memorandum on “combined effects” over the objections of James B. Comey, the deputy attorney general, who was leaving his job after bruising clashes with the White House. Disagreeing with what he viewed as the opinion’s overreaching legal reasoning, Mr. Comey told colleagues at the department that they would all be “ashamed” when the world eventually learned of it.

And here we are. Given their conduct and contempt for the rule of law, administration officials are apparently well beyond the capacity for shame, but if they’re capable of embarrassment, now would be a good time for it. Indeed, now might be an equally good time to wonder whether criminal charges should be brought against several high-ranking officials in the Bush administration.

Every time Bush was asked about this, he merely replied, "We don't torture." And he was lying.

He and his administration have betrayed this country. They are traitors to the ideals of this country. We have always held ourselves up to a higher standard, and because of Bush, we can no longer do that.

Such a traitor to our country should not be president. Such traitors do not belong in our government. Such traitors should be impeached and punished for their crimes. They have committed crimes against our country, our people, our humanity.

After all the war crimes, the illegal spying, the torture, it is abundantly clear that they have broken the law and their oaths of their offices. They do not deserve to be in power. They should be in prison.

And the insane 30% of this country that still approves of this traitor and his criminal administration need to wake up and know the truth that is so hard for them to hear: Bush is a liar, and a criminal, and a torturer, and he doesn't deserve to be our president.