The Narrative Continues To Build!

"If you build it, they will come (to justice, hopefully)"

Yes, it's a bone we have latched on to, but one that continues to deny being buried.

More, and more, it is being obvious, to many, that the dots are being connected on how The Bush Grindhouse lied us into the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and, as an instrument of their odious, and evil tools, one of the items they used to sell it, was the implementation of their Torture Policy.



Frank Rich, today, with a monster column, weighs in, on-point, and on-the-money.

The Banality of Bush White House Evil

Yet we still shrink from the hardest truths and the bigger picture: that torture was a premeditated policy approved at our government’s highest levels; that it was carried out in scenarios that had no resemblance to “24”; that psychologists and physicians were enlisted as collaborators in inflicting pain; and that, in the assessment of reliable sources like the F.B.I. director Robert Mueller, it did not help disrupt any terrorist attacks.

[Snip]

In other words, the ticking time bomb was not another potential Qaeda attack on America but the Bush administration’s ticking timetable for selling a war in Iraq; it wanted to pressure Congress to pass a war resolution before the 2002 midterm elections. Bybee’s memo was written the week after the then-secret (and subsequently leaked) “Downing Street memo,” in which the head of British intelligence informed Tony Blair that the Bush White House was so determined to go to war in Iraq that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” A month after Bybee’s memo, on Sept. 8, 2002, Cheney would make his infamous appearance on “Meet the Press,” hyping both Saddam’s W.M.D.s and the “number of contacts over the years” between Al Qaeda and Iraq. If only 9/11 could somehow be pinned on Iraq, the case for war would be a slamdunk.

But there were no links between 9/11 and Iraq, and the White House knew it. Torture may have been the last hope for coercing such bogus “intelligence” from detainees who would be tempted to say anything to stop the waterboarding.

It is becoming clearer, that Cheney, some other Bush Grindhouse cronies, the Flying Monkeys (and George Will, who on Little Georgie's show this morning, was outraged that a new administration would go after a previous administration), are being blatantly obtuse, that they are looking to frame this as a policy witch hunt, versus the illegal war crimes that it is.

More, from that growing chain of dots ...

John Cole, at Balloon Juice, along with seconding Rich's column, delves into another can-of-worms that will, at some point, come to light;

BTW, something I was wondering. Didn’t one of the detainees we tortured claim to have been injected with drugs. Was that Padilla? Has that ever been verified? Were there any memos mentioning using pharmaceuticals?

Kevin Hayden, on American Street;

The mainstream media finally has gotten it right: the real reason for the torture was not national security, but to sell an unnecessary, immoral and illegal war in Iraq.

[Snip]

So in addition to the torture, we’ve killed a couple hundred thousand Iraqis, put all future US POWs at greater risk of being tortured, and Halliburton, Exxon, Blackwater and other companies run by Bush/Cheney cronies have been reaping the blood money from it all.

Of course the perps are busily denying it all. That’s what perps do. They know they’ll lose in a courtroom. Their best chance is to appeal to the court of public opinion to avoid the courtroom process completely.

They deserve to fail and to be adequately punished for their war crimes, if justice means anything.

Ron Beasley, at Newshoggers;

This makes the crime of torture even more heinous. Torture to get a false confession to justify a war that killed thousands of American soldiers and tens if not hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Sorry Mr Broder, if these crimes are not investigated and and the guilty held accountable the American people will also be just as guilty. If President Obama truly wants to improve the US standing in the world it will take more than talk about how we won't do it again. As it stands now the US is in no position to be critical of even the worst of the world regimes. There is only one way that can change. And by the way Mr Broder that's not called vengeance it's called justice.

Let the narrative continue to build.

Yes, let's follow Cheney's call to release more of the documents.

If it wasn't so seriously evil, and atrocious, it is almost ironic that Cheney wants defend his war crimes by cherry-picking from the torture memos and reports, the very ones, initially, made-to-order, "Here the info you wanted", tell-us-what-you-want-to-hear "legal" advice.

Despite the hue-and-cry, including that from the Obama White House, the only way this should end is with a thorough, independent investigation, and let the chips fall where the may.

It that leads to prosecution, and charges against acquiescing Democrats, so be it.

As Frank Rich ended his column today;

"What we must have are fair trials that at long last uphold and reclaim our nation’s commitment to the rule of law."


Bonus Links

Krugman: Reclaiming America’s Soul

For The Want Of A Lie ...