The Torture Administration

Torture!!!!!!!
I've been torturing myself over this issue for quite some time and its a welcome surprise to see that John Conyers and the House Judiciary Subcommittee is FINALLY doing its job as mandated by the Constitution and putting a check on Executive Power.

For everyone who reads this... and I know there will be untold thousands of you... pull out your calendars and mark down June 26, 2008. Why this date? Well, the two key architects of the Bush Torture Administration... under orders from the King (Vice President Dick Cheney) and his Serf (President George W. Bush) engineered a legal rationale and precedent to use torture as a means of interrogation for people being held by OUR COUNTRY for charges that have never been made public... will have to testify before the House Judiciary Committee.

As a Jew, and one who is also gay, I was brought up in a Synagogue where we were taught every Sunday that Fascism can happen anywhere at anytime... and we as Jews must never allow what happened to the Jews of Europe during the 1930's... where they were actually caught by surprise by what seems now to be an obvious set of circumstances that sealed their fate. They are just like us.

On June 26th the torture administration could begin to be exposed from within:

For Immediate Release	Contact: Jonathan Godfrey
May 7, 2008	Melanie Roussell

Washington, DC- Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a subpoena to to David Addington, chief of staff to the vice president, compelling him to testify before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on June 26 at 10 a.m. Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John C. Yoo, who has agreed to testify voluntarily, will testify on that day as well.


Apparently, Addington would not testify voluntarily but is expected to honor the subpoena and show up... He won't answer questions... he's not that stooopid... he knows the sharks are circling. My hope is that John Yoo, now a Professor At UC Berkeley (can someone please tell me how that happened, and how he has not had his head ripped off by the student body yet?) tells all and we have ourselves a full fledged Watergate. But this scandal will make Watergate look like a puddle next to the Atlantic Ocean if it ever breaks and I'm not sure anyone in government or media wants it to. It could bring down a lot of people.

Oh how I Dream... its nice to dream that sanity will prevail someday in this country. But it won't.

John Yoo is but a pawn in a much larger game here. According to Bill Moyers ground breaking series Bill Moyers Journal of October 26, 2007, he reveals that this is but one small piece in a much larger agenda to create an imperial presidency... executed by David Addington and Dick Cheney to create a "Teflon" executive branch... one that could break the laws of this country as well as International Law and be completely safe from accountability. I urge you to either read the transcript or watch this program on PBS.com.

I certainly don't think the "smoking gun" will be revealed on June 26th. Why? The smoking gun has already been revealed and is in the public realm. The documents and testimonials of those who sat in on the meetings... according to Phillippe Sands, Author of "Torture Team, Rumsfeld Memo and The Betrayal of American Values" has laid out the case that the torture trail starts at the top. And he does a spectacular job of proving it.

The question: Will we as a country and a people, hold our the administration and their lawyers accountable for this? And if we won't, who will?

Interestingly, Phillipe has spoken with a Judge and Prosecutor of the World Court. From his article in Vanity Fair titled "The Green Light" from the May, 2008 issue (with Madonna on the cover, ugh I'm so tired of her):

The judge and prosecutor were particularly struck by the immunity from prosecution provided by the Military Commissions Act. “That is very stupid,” said the prosecutor, explaining that it would make it much easier for investigators outside the United States to argue that possible war crimes would never be addressed by the justice system in the home country—one of the trip wires enabling foreign courts to intervene. For some of those involved in the Guantánamo decisions, prudence may well dictate a more cautious approach to international travel. And for some the future may hold a tap on the shoulder.

“It’s a matter of time,” the judge observed. “These things take time.” As I gathered my papers, he looked up and said, “And then something unexpected happens, when one of these lawyers travels to the wrong place.”

Can you just envision John Yoo, David Addington, or Harriet Miers being held in a French prison on charges of Conspiracy to Undermine The Geneva Convention. Its just too good to even imagine. But let's hope that we here at home can imprison them and their comrades and hope that this very dark chapter in our history comes to a speedy end with the perpetrators safely behind bars.

To dream... the impossible dream...

Sphere: Related Content