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May 21-27, 2009
editorial@boulderweekly.com
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Too big to punish?
by Jim Hightower
One of the most ignominious, most sordid and saddest chapters in America’s presidential history was the decision by George W, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, and other top officials to soil our nation’s moral standing by engaging in torture — even as all of the above publicly denied it was happening and did all they could to cover up their role in directing it. Instead, they blamed low-level soldiers and CIA agents.
Sadly, this cover up goes on, for President Obama is refusing to release photos and full transcripts of the Guantánamo torture sessions done in our name. Meanwhile, those who soiled our name scoot around fancy-free. Cheney has become a fixture on yackety-yak TV and radio shows, blathering maniacally that torture is “moral.” Just as absurdly, Rice has resorted to Nixonian megalomania by declaring that the brutal torture of waterboarding is inherently legal: “By definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”
Then there’s John Yoo, author of the justice department memos that gave the Bushites an in-house legal cover for dragging our country down into the immoral muck of torture. Far from being punished, Yoo has recently been rewarded by the Philadelphia Inquirer, which has hired him to be a regular columnist. Fearing public outrage, the paper tried at first to disguise him as an occasional op-ed contributor, not a hired hand.
Now that the truth is out, the Inquirer is scrambling to rationalize Yoo’s hiring, claiming the paper merely needed to add more “conservative voices to the mix.” Come on, are there no conservative scribes who haven’t written torture memos?
These people are immoral lawbreakers who sullied America’s flag and values. It’s time to stop coddling them — and hold them accountable for their crimes against us.
http://www.jimhightower.com
For more information on Jim Hightower's work — and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown — visit www.jimhightower.com.
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