PARTISAN SCREAM MACHINE

For years now many have been calling for the heads of most top Bush Administration officials for their parts in a number of illegal acts, including the suspension of Habeas Corpus, illegal domestic spying, illegal detention of suspected terrorists, extraordinary rendition, etc, etc, etc. But maybe no other issue has been so hotly contested, and now blatantly admitted to, as torture.

Now the Senate Armed Services Committee has released a study revealing evidence that Bush administration officials repeatedly ignored warnings that their actions were potentially illegal and could put interrogators at risk of being charged with crimes. These warnings, of course, were ignored.

I'm not going to write a history of the implicit or explicit support for torture in the Bush Administration. At this point, all of the information one needs has come out in the press or now from the Senate Armed Servcies Committe. It's all out there.

But what we do need to ask ourselves is whether or not we want this happening in our name. Ask any soldier who has gone through SERE training if waterboarding is torture or not, and then ask yourself if we can let these crimes go unpunished. You can also read this great piece by Glenn Greenwald about the report and the rise in the number of people wanting to do something about it.

The gist of Greewald's piece is that if we hear these reports, recognize their importance, and fail to act, then we have failed to uphold the social contract and the Constitution. If we don't act, we're saying it's ok for our leaders to act with impunity. The actions of this administration are becoming far too apparent to be ignored for much longer. So since the likelihood of action before Janurary 20 is quite minimal, I'd say we need to start gearing up for action aimed at the new administration.

Shameless self promotion ahead--- One thing you can do is check out my Cafe Press shop and get some gear for battle. I've made a simple shirt with a simple message: Indict.

Of course, all money I raise is going back into this blog, hopefully to boost usability and to add new tools. But if nothing else, to get it in good working order. We can't be scared to fund independent media.

After all, as Bill Moyers stated, "Democracy only works when ordinary people claim it as their own." That's the ethos of this blog, the new media movement, and this movement to see justice served to those in positions of power that feel they are above the law.

Labels: Indict, torture