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Cheney: We Do Torture

By Big Tent Democrat, Section War on Terror
Posted on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 08:19:55 AM EST
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Actually, Cheney says "we don't do torture." However, a few questions later he contradicts himself:

KARL: And on KSM (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed), one of those tactics, of course, widely reported was waterboarding. And that seems to be a tactic we no longer use. Even that you think was appropriate?

CHENEY: I do.

In case you are wondering waterboarding has been considered torture for thousands of years. It violates US law. It is a crime. Not just a war crime, but also a violation of US criminal law. Cheney has admitted to committing this crime. In our names. And our Congress knew and did nothing. This stain will not wash out.

Speaking for me only

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    Cheney: We Do Torture | 16 comments (16 topical)

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    How do you put this guy on trial (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by lilburro on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 08:33:21 AM EST
    and not win?

    Greatest injustice of our time (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by Saul on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 08:46:39 AM EST
    was not impeaching Bush and Cheney.  If ever there was an administration that needed to be impeach it was this one.  IMO you should be able to still charge these guys with a crime even after they leave the office of the presidency.  IMO it would be easier than going through the impeachment process.  There should be a fact finding commission under the Obama administration to see what crimes these guy actually did and then indict them for trial.  

    John Nichols and Bruce Fein had a great discussion on impeaching Bush and Cheney on PBS Bill Moyer show.  Here is a link to view it.

    You speak for a lot of people here on this (5.00 / 2) (#3)
    by Molly Bloom on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 08:52:17 AM EST


    My God (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by Steve M on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 10:11:37 AM EST
    As recently as Vietnam, we court-martialed one of our own soldiers for waterboarding a prisoner.  It's always been considered torture and a war crime.  What is wrong with these people?

    What is wrong with us (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by BobTinKY on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 10:17:41 AM EST
    that we allow it and do not insist on accountability?  Whether it is impeachment or prosecution, what choice does a truly civilized society with a Constitution such as ours have except to hold the admitted torturers accountable under the law?

    We don't even attempt the effort.  Our lack of action as a society , unwillingness to experience the political "discomfit" is the most worrying aspect of all this.

    And this is just the most egregious of the already admitted to conduct.

    Parent

    The Vice president admits to war crimes (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Jen M on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 10:20:57 AM EST
    and the nation yawns.

    As Doonesbury would say, (5.00 / 2) (#9)
    by oldpro on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 11:12:37 AM EST
    "Guilty, guilty, guilty!"

    There will be no accountability for it in this country.  Stunning but understandable.

    Not a priority of the congress or the Obama administration.  They've got their hands full and want no distractions.

    I'm comforting myself by remembering that Lincoln didn't hang all the traitors but sent them home to their families and farms to 'bind up the wounds of the nation.'

    As an Irishwoman whose middle name is 'Revenge,' I deeply regret it, personally.  Politically, I'll live with it and the Bush administration will have to live with themselves, raqtionalizing all the way.  

    They're done.  We know it.  The world knows it.  That will have to do for now.  

    It is not revenge at all (none / 0) (#12)
    by BobTinKY on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 11:43:06 AM EST
    it is self protection from the next bunch of neo-cons or whatever they will be called.  

    Parent
    PS There is no 'protection' (5.00 / 2) (#15)
    by oldpro on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 12:20:27 PM EST
    from these people as the impeachment of Nixon proved.  If there were, we wouldn't have had the Bush administration.  Why weren't they warned off?

    Of course, a certain mindset makes it easy to rationalize illegal behavior...bringing to mind Nixon's incredible remark that "if the president does it, it's legal!"

    Game. Set. Match.

    Only if Nixon had gone to jail would he have been disabused of that notion.  THEN Bush and Cheney might have been warned off...though I doubt it.

    Parent

    Where there is no justice, Bob, (none / 0) (#13)
    by oldpro on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 12:13:14 PM EST
    or no perception of justice, revenge fills the void.  That is the danger.

    The prioblem, though, is the definition of 'justice,' not unlike trying to define 'patriotism' in our badly divided country.  There is ample evidence that Republicans bent on revenge for the Nixon impeachment and the Bork rejection which they thought 'unjust,' took it out on Bill Clinton and the Democrats.

    Tit for tat.

    Parent

    Damning (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by squeaky on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 11:21:33 AM EST
    He will be treated like Pinochet if he enters leaves the US. Truly evil man, no heart.


    I hope (5.00 / 2) (#11)
    by CST on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 11:33:04 AM EST
    He mistakenly wanders to that town in VT where they have a warrant out for his and Bush's arrest for war crimes.

    Parent
    Bragging (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by squeaky on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 12:16:03 PM EST
    Perhaps Cheney feels inured enough to boast about torture because he has made getting any actionable evidence against him and his administration so deeply buried in layers of red tape. He feels free as a bird.

    To reach a final calculus of the Bush administration's use of torture will take years. It will require access to a large body of material that for now remains classified, and the weighing not just of information gained against false or missed leads but of the wider consequences: of the damage done to America's influence with its friends, and of the encouragement provided to its enemies. Even harder to quantify is the damage done to institutions and their morale, especially the C.I.A.

    David Rose Vanity Fair via Laura Rozen

    re trial (none / 0) (#4)
    by coolpolitealex on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 09:50:00 AM EST
    For my money they should all go on trial ,the whole caboodle ,but i will not loose any sleep on it .
    Best to al in America this xmass n new year,
    especially in this financial timescial times

    In agreement on this one (none / 0) (#5)
    by BobTinKY on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 10:00:15 AM EST
    Cheney and Bush not only admit to this criminal conduct, they boast about it.

    This alone has long provided a prima facie case for impeachment, yet here we are with these criminals still in charge.  Not only that, Congress voted ovewhelmingly to let these folks dole out hundreds of billions to Wall St., and now we're surpised that responsibility too has been misused.

    They simply have to be prosecuted if the expected pardons allow any room for it. If not, the next bunch of unapolgetic fascists will take these sorts of crimes even further.

    From my perspective, the (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by KeysDan on Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 02:17:58 PM EST
    first and most important step in governmental malpractice of the character practiced by Bush and Cheney is to get them out of office.  The impeachment shoe should have been thrown at them a long time ago; the inordinate hesitancy and fear of the constitutional process of impeachment is unwarranted. It is a fair political process, purposefully cumbersome and, if abused, will reap the whirlwinds to impetuosity and deviousness.  If the office holders bear criminal liability, that should await a subsequent consideration.  In the Blagojevich case, as an instant example, the serious gubernatorial-related criminal complaint is sufficient, in my view, to move to the impeachment process--investigation, impeachment, trial and verdict.  The idea of the prosecutor releasing apparently an unripe criminal complaint and asking the state officials to hold off until a future date so as not to jeopardize the criminal case seems wrongheaded. Meanwhile, the state's and peoples' affairs are jeopardized.  Political resolution, with loss of the job if warranted, is critical.  If they need to be placed behind bars, that is alright, too--but later.

    Parent
    Cheney: We Do Torture | 16 comments (16 topical)

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