'Not a country of torture'
The drum beat continues for punishment of the Bush Administration legal eagles who made torture acceptable in the Land of the Brave.The New York Times continues to push for a serious spanking of the former Justice Department attorneys, including, BYU-grad Jay Bybee—especially since it appears they will never face criminal charges, unlike the grunts who carried out their orders:
A draft report by the office does not call for prosecuting those lawyers, . . . but is likely to ask state bar associations to consider disciplinary action. We believe it must do so in unequivocal language. Bar association disciplinary committees . . . have no excuse not to use documentary evidence from the report to proceed.The New Republic reminds conservatives of their sacred Rule of Law:
Remember the Rule of Law? In the late 1990s, it was all the rage in conservative circles. Having maneuvered Bill Clinton into a position where he could either lie under oath or suffer massive personal and political embarrassment, conservatives reasoned that Clinton must be held accountable for perjury or the basic underpinnings of democracy would be shattered. . . .The Las Vegas Sun reveals that 9th Circuit appellate judge Jay Bybee has been lobbying members of Nevada’s congressional delegation “to tell his side of the story.” Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) have both heard from Bybee's flunkies. Titus says:
Today, the administration malfeasance consists of illegal torture, a crime no less serious than lying under oath about fellatio. Yet Republicans now believe that the Rule of Law is not only consistent with letting administration crimes go unpunished but actually requires it. To prosecute the departed administration would make us a "banana republic"—the premise being that banana republics are defined not by their use of torture but by their overly zealous enforcement of anti-torture laws.
I’d like to hear from him if he thinks he made the right decision interpreting the law and doing the job as he saw it defined. But I also will not hesitate to make it clear to him that I absolutely disagree with his interpretation.
The United States is not a country of torture.
3 Comments:
Wondering when God's newspaper, the Deseret News, will run a story on the fair-haired BYU grad who urged Bush and his criminal friends to torture. DNews Boss Cannon said he wanted to make that rag more Mormon.
Well, here's his chance. He should run lots of stories about Bybee and the others who believe America should torture its enemies.
It is news when Bybee urges troops and the CIA to torture human beings. News was/is ignored by the DNews. Then we read that another Mormon, a lady soldier, killed herself when she was mocked by others around her for refusing an assignment to help in the tortures.
Both stories are news and would fill the Mormon rag with more Mormon.
It's beyond me how the DNews can continue to ignore these stories. At some point, when/if Bybee is impeached that, too, will be news.
Will that Mormon rag refuse to run anything then on its fair-haired BYU grad?
Thank God for the Tribune's editorials and those of the NYTimes.
Then there's Tommy Monson's ignoring the laws on illegal immigrants. One of his dark-suited missionaries was arrested last week when he tried to board a plane. How come? He was/is illegal.
Tell me, now, the Mormon church didn't know the law? The Mormon church didn't know he is an illegal?
The Mormon church used this missionary guy because it believed it could get away with it.
Now, the church struggles to reassure its members that all's well. The church will be more observant about illegal immigrant missionaries in the future.
Instead of flying, when they can be detected as illegals, the church will have them drive across country to avoid being checked at airports, train stations and bus terminals.
Come, Come Ye Saints!!!!
This discussion really frustrates me. Bybee was a lawyer asked to apply facts (proposed interrogation methods) to law (provisions in law concerning torture). Lawyers are asked to do this every day and are not prosecuted for it. Nor should they be. Candid legal advice from lawyers is a bedrock of our justice system.
Diagree with Bybee's legal opinion if you wish. But there is a palpable lack of evidence to suggest that these were anything other than legal opinions given in good faith, no matter how wrong you might think they may be. To suggest prosecution is ridiculous and either ignorant or politically motivated, in my estimation.
Don't believe in torture? Has anyone read the Trib lately. Now that's torture!
Post a Comment
<< Home