Print
Email Friend
Add to Favorites
del.icio.us
Digg It!
Slashdot It!
-- those responsible for 9/11 should be shot, right?
-- a nation of laws, right?
-- don’t torture, right?
-- but when we did, it was to save lives, right?
-- but we don’t do it anymore, right?
-- 11 more months, right?
Hmmm, yesterday, the Pentagon announced it’s seeking the death penalty for the 9/11 perps.
Hmmm, after saving all those undocumented lives in undocumented terrorist plots to prove that documented CIA torture worked, the perps were handed off to the FBI for nearly a year and a half of tried and true friendly persuasive interrogation.
Hmmm, now, the Pentagon says it’s amassed sufficient evidence to bring 6 Gitmo prisoners before a military tribunal on murder charges for their alleged roles in engineering the 9/11 attacks.
Wow! It’s about time, hunh? And it appears the Pentagon’s pushing to try, convict and execute the perps before Bush leaves office - neat-oh!
Wow! Dana Perino even said Bush played no role in deciding which detainees would be prosecuted, or in deciding to pursue the death penalty. "The White House was not involved," she said. "They made the decision to bring the charges today because, as they said, they were ready to do so." Now this has to be the stuff of pure, sterling, hands-off, auto-pilot legacy!
Wow! The confessions elicited by the FBI’s friendly persuasion is virtually the same damning evidence that the CIA got from 5 of the 6 perps through torture at secret prisons! Damn - does it get any better - I mean, self-incriminating confessions, then self-incriminating corroboration?
According the the usual suspects in the Bush administration, the answer is a resounding, “OH YEAH!” The FBI is beating its chest and the CIA Director congratulated his minions saying the trials would be a "crucial milestone on the road to justice" for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.
But, wait a minute - in spite of all the posturing, what gives here?!
Torture is illegal! Thus, in military tribunals as well as civilian courts, a confession elicited through torture is inadmissible. Is it possible to backtrack, un-torture a perp with kid glove treatment, Starbucks and baba ghanoush to get the same confession - then move forward to court?
I’m no legal beagle but I smell a rat! How about you?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/11/AR2008021100572.html?hp
An if you're as outraged as I with this legal sleight of hand, how about the Senate voting 67-31 to give the telecom companies a Get-Outta-Jail-Free card today?
Like Indie quoted Bush elsewhere, "It's very hard to write the future history of America before the current history hasn't been fully written."
I need some help here - I used to know what "nation of laws" meant. That's the history of yesteryear, though. Can anyone tell me what it means currently or what it will mean in the future?
Report Abuse