Thursday, Jan. 08, 2009

THE REAL BUSH LEGACY

...A Bush Memorial in Washington:
a statue of the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner in cruciform stress position
— the real Bush legacy.

The Bush Administration's Most Despicable Act
By Joe Klein

"This is not the America I know," President George W. Bush said after the first, horrifying pictures of U.S. troops torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq surfaced in April 2004. The President was not telling the truth. "This" was the America he had authorized on Feb. 7, 2002, when he signed a memorandum stating that the Third Geneva Convention — the one regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime — did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. That signature led directly to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. It was his single most callous and despicable act. It stands at the heart of the national embarrassment that was his presidency.

The details of the torture that Bush authorized have been dribbling out over the years in books like Jane Mayer's excellent The Dark Side. But the most definitive official account was released by the Senate Armed Services Committee just before Christmas. Much of the committee's report remains secret, but a 19-page executive summary was published, and it is infuriating. The story begins with an obscure military training program called Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape (SERE), in which various forms of torture are simulated to prepare U.S. special-ops personnel for the sorts of treatment they might receive if they're taken prisoner. Incredibly, the Bush Administration decided to have SERE trainers instruct its interrogation teams on how to torture prisoners. (Read "Shell-Shocked at Abu Ghraib?")

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It would be interesting, just for the fun and justice of it, to subject Rumsfeld to four hours in a stress position — standing stock still with his arms extended, naked, in a cold room after maybe two hours' sleep. But that's not going to happen. Indeed, it seems probable that nothing much is going to happen to the Bush Administration officials who perpetrated what many legal scholars consider to be war crimes. "I would say that there's some theoretical exposure here" to a war-crimes indictment in U.S. federal court, says Gene Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School. "But I don't think there's much public appetite for that sort of action." There is, I'm told, absolutely no interest on the part of the incoming Obama Administration to pursue indictments against its predecessors. "We're focused on the future," said one of the President-elect's legal advisers. Fidell and others say it is possible, though highly unlikely, that Bush et al. could be arrested overseas — one imagines the Vice President pinched midstream on a fly-fishing trip to Norway — just as Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean dictator, was indicted in Spain and arrested in London for his crimes.

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If Barack Obama really wanted to be cagey, he could pardon Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld for the possible commission of war crimes. Then they'd have to live with official acknowledgment of their ignominy in perpetuity. More likely, Obama will simply make sure — through his excellent team of legal appointees — that no such behavior happens again. Still, there should be some official acknowledgment by the U.S. government that the Bush Administration's policies were reprehensible, and quite possibly illegal, and that the U.S. is no longer in the torture business. If Obama doesn't want to make that statement, perhaps we could do it in the form of a Bush Memorial in Washington: a statue of the hooded Abu Ghraib prisoner in cruciform stress position — the real Bush legacy.

more at:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1870319,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815571,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/abughraib/
http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/guantanamo/

time as if THEY were not serious lawmakers and had no grasp of anti-terrorism policy. Klein acts now as if he's disgusted by actions he certainly heard about at the time and when he has known for DECADES that Bushes lie about EVERYTHING in pursuit of power.

Hey Joe - how did you treat Kerry's call for Rumsfeld to lose his job after Abu Ghraib? You treated it like politics, not a serious grievance.

Fortunately, Greenwald reminded Joe in 2007 about his complicit behavior when Klein tried to claim anti-Bush policy ground.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/07/26/klein/

Where they lie.

The lying republican leadership (and some from the Democratic side) are not the only ones trying to rewrite their horrible resumes of the last 8 years.

said Kerry was 'exaggerating' on that charge. He's a total prick, even if he does bend his left knee at times.

the bush administration's most despicable acts were the h-bombs in Towers 1&2.

joe klein by saying that their allowing torture is "the most despicable act" is trying to put the truth to bed. this kind of switcheroo is classic psyops: "praise them with faint damns".

for second, it is the myriad traps they have laid for the next Administration and the rest of us too

such as spending all of America's financial and political clout up to the last second... we feel like we're watching a scary movie and emoting "don't open that door!" at the affable protagonist... someone used the metaphor of a massive eight year long frat party with obama having to play janitor... reminds me of the flying party in douglas adams' "life the universe and everything"

i would say #3 is VOTE FRAUD

without which there never would have BEEN an iraq, an afghanistan, and everything else

i started fearbush.com in 1999 and i can only say that i still fear him

we cannot let them escape to Paraguay.




haven't posted in months, had to get that out though... it is not right that we should forgive or forget 9-11 and the case just keeps building, and building, and pointing straight to the top no matter how you slice it

klein's damnation is but a faint echo of the roar of Satan as he awaits their tasty souls in the underworld...

I'm encouraged ...!!

...but ho actually reads TIME????

ONE would have taken ALL the financial district, let alone two

Laws of physics do have a role, even in tin foil hat moments

By the way, they let it happen, but they didn't use H0-Boms, do a little research

Damn it... there are days

That photo will go into infinity ...

we should all have copies of it to mail to Congress until they do something about

Bush/Cheney/Rimsfeld/Gonzalez/Yoo etal --!!

Thanks .."Joe Klein" struck sour note in my memory ..!!!

The country's M$M moves slightly to the "left" (at whose orders I don't know) but all of a sudden, people at TIME and Newsweek are all so piously non-supportive of Der Fuehrer.

Currently Fineman and Klein are tripping all over themselves to show what Profiles in Courage they exhibited over the last eight years: "Personally I never saluted the man. This "Heil Fuhrer" rubbish was something I refused to buy into from the very beginning. You didn't see my summer home in Austria draped with swastikas.

"No not me! I never thought it was a good idea to have Jewish people wear six pointed stars. I never thought we should invade Poland. I told Der Fuhrer that I would not support his incursion into the Soviet Union, as I knew it would cause a massive loss of life for our troops." And Yada Yada. Yada.

If they could just point me to one issue of either of these two rags, circa 2002 to 2007, that spelled out how much contempt they held for Bush, I might believe them. But that would be "Mission Impossible."

There wasn't a lawmaker in DC who understood and tracked the terror networks more than John Kerry, but corpmedia whores were paid well to ignore the entire BCCI issue and the US's involvement over 3 decades in growing those terror networks.

Apparently, torture isn't quite as serious as a bj, but it's serious enough to mention after it's been going on for years.

You won't absolve your guilt by this article, now. You were complicit and on the side of power bandwagon. Boo on you.

Lying bastards.

would suffice

it was Klein who claimed Kerry was 'exaggerating' when he said Bush misled the country into war.

Oh really, Joe?

Their stock price has been getting punched in the mouth and gut all at the same time.

Time Warner sees $25B charge, loss for Q4 and cuts outlook
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-01-07-time-warner-outlook_N.htm

"Screw them, just do it anyway...they ain't gonna do nothing except Bitch"

We join the ranks of world terrorists...no accountability and no consequences.

"Now let's get back to raping Obama's daughters till he tells us what we want to know or make sure he doesn't know anything...which ever sounds more reasonable while he's watching" These are the actions we are talking about and the people who approved of such actions...you insult humanity by letting it pass...just as long as it's not happening to yours then let it go huh.

This shame will never pass...if you let it go by unpunished. Any thing done to anyone in the US is now justifiable based on our own behavior. Terrorism wins when you act like a terrorist.

For years, no one here wanted to believe that Bush had directly ordered this policy. When Lindi England was scapegoated as a "bad apple," I knew this was business as usual.

So he did. Beyond that, the story about the techniques coming from SERE are ridiculous. We've tortured for decades on the same flimsy moral grounds- to "save people."

I'll be pleasantly surprised if the Obama administration officially repudiates this policy even though they'll be doing it behind the scenes. I'm not holding my breath, however. Power like that is intoxicating, and giving it up often requires more force to push it back.

that the american people don't have the stomach for justice! try us, dammit

political witchhunt or over-reaching or dividing the country when it is plain old JUSTICE and accountability....as per the Constitution.

Was this is the print magazine or just the web page?

"...I don't think there's much public appetite for that sort of action"

investigate war crimes is that "IF THE PRESIDENT DOES IT, ITS NOT A CRIME.

Right or wrong, it took the media 3 weeks to convince the American people that a Governor of Illinois was crooked, crazy, and should be impeached.

Think about it, what if they reported the truth of the actions of the Bush/Cheney administration a few years ago with the same enthusiasm.

The lack of impeachment is more then just lack of Congressional oversight or backbone, and justice is more then what a few people think might be best for themselves or friends. It is what is right, and the exposing of illegal actions, so people know there are consequences in a just state.

at fault.We are almost like Joe too little to late but we need to bring them to justice.

The NY Times covered up Bushes crimes, so they are liars too!

Why doesn't he say "The president was lying"

He must think people didn't read his cheerleading garbage for the last eight years.

Joe Klein and the NYTimes have lost what was left of their credibility years ago.

He always gets it - eventually - but watching him work it out on paper is excrutiating.

I keep thinking I've heard everything. I keep thinking it isn't going to get any more surreal than it already has been. And now TIME. Well I'll be.:freak:

Oh well, I'm sure it wouldn't have made any difference if Time and the rest of the popular media outlets had been calling Bush a torturing liar in April 2004.

Was a head cheerleader when Bush was doing all of his damage. It is easy to kick a man when he is down and that is what Klein is engaged in here. While it is soothing to hear those words now it was painful to listen to Joe Klein when it mattered.

In my view it is the Iraq war - hands down.

The Iraq war was the Bush Administrations most major crime. It may be the LEAST likely to be prosecuted but was the most blatant and most obvious major a crime.

A war of agression???? Holy Shit!!! We condoned that and didn't put a stop to it???? We (the American people) should have had a massive general strike until the war was called off. The Bush Administration stands as this centuries worst war criminals. This would include Bin Laden and the 9/11 hijackers who are on the list but place far down that list compared to BUSH.

...SERE, the bearded one....shudder.

Bush lied causing soldiers to die for the purpose of enriching business.

Prison is too good for Bush, he deserves more.

Took long enuf. It is a no brainer that torture is wrong, immoral, anti-American, and anti-Christian and every other religion. The republicons -- adrift without a moral compass -- never got that. And the corporate media -- on bent knee to corporate republicon totalitarianism -- has generally FAILED altogether to do its job and remind people. It was definitely TIME to call the Republicon Fascist Torture Freaks out...What took so long? What took so long? What took so long?

The Fourth Estate has a solemn duty to report the facts to the populace. It is the lynch pin for survival of the Republic. This principle was fully grasp by the Founding Fathers and of such paramount importance that it was enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

What these miserable bastards like Joe Klein did was that they knuckled under to this administration and didn't dare print one word of criticism. As Helen Thomas stated in her book instead of being the watchdogs of the Republic they became the lapdogs of the administration. When she attempted to question those in power she was blackballed. Did his colleges come to her assistance? Hell no! All it took was the scowling face of Cheney to make them cringe with fear.

These sniveling cowards tucked their tail between their legs and licked the hand of the evil bastards that hijacked our country. They became the administration's propagandists and without any hesitation spread their lies. They would have made Goebbels proud. The only honorable thing they could do is to follow his example and commit suicide. As this ghastly administration finally comes to an end, with the nation on the brink of imploding, their vain attempt to redeem their corrupt reputation by attacking what they gladly enabled is enough to make me want to vomit.

Sorry Joe, I'm not buying that the murikan people don't have an appetite for justice. As more and more of the truth surfaces, and as *'s chickens continue coming home to roost, more and more murikan's will be clamoring for justice. Even the fact that the story has hit MSM demonstrates that it's got serious legs and it's growing.

I'm also not buying that Obama's not going to do anything. Just because his team isn't *advertising* what they're working on doesn't mean that behind the scenes there aren't people working on something. Like any really topnotch lawyer, they won't reveal their strategy -- or even that they have a strategy -- until it's too late for the opposition to obfuscate or escape. For all I know, you're reporting deliberate "disinformation" from Obama's team, in order to let * and co. think they're off almost the hook.

But I *do* want to thank you, Joe, for your silly attempt to portray yourself as outraged by *, even as you try to quell murika's outrage and lead us into "moving on." I think you're still in *'s and the rethug pocket, and you're *still* trying to protect them. The simple fact that you (and your rethug pals) feel the need to do this gives me hope. Remember Joe. The mills of time grind exceedingly slow, but they grind exceedingly fine.

They know how easy the public has been to lead around by the nose so far... why should they expect any different now?

It really deserves more eyeballs than it will get this far down a thread.

"The President was not telling the truth. "This" was the America he had authorized on Feb. 7, 2002, when he signed a memorandum stating that the Third Geneva Convention — the one regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime — did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban."