Spy v. Spy
Andrew Cohen, Bench Conference, Washington Post
So much for keeping secrets. We learned this weekend that there's an internal dispute at the Central Intelligence Agency over the legality of the agency's interrogation and detention programs.
The President, may beets grow in his belly, blew off the anti-torture legislation not only with his "I'm the Decider, nobody tells me what to do" signing statement, but with the secret, made-to-order legal opinions from Gonzales' 'Yassuh boss whatever you say boss" Justice Department. It's hard to feel a lot of sympathy for torturers, even our own, but I confess to having some for the CIA operatives who did what they were told by the White House probably thinking, pace Richard Nixon, that 'if the president orders it, it's OK.' It may be that someday the chickens will come home to roost and someone will be punished for engaging in torture, but I doubt it. The recent action by the federal courts, including the Supremes, in dismissing the suit by the alleged German kidnap and torture victim on the 'state secrets' ground suggests that no one will ever be held to account for the criminal acts ordered by Bush and supported by Cheney, Addington, Gonzales et alia. So it looks like Nixon will ultimately be proved right, albeit 35 years too late to help him. If the President does it, it's OK. So much for the Rule of Law. Bush, like Nixon and France's King Louis XIV, could all say 'L'etat, c'est moi.' And Bush and his henchmen, like the later Louis XV, can add "Apres nous, le deluge." The nation will be paying for his hubris and essential stupidity for many, many years. One is reminded of Thomas Jefferson writing "Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just."
Posted by: P. Bosley Slogthrop | October 15, 2007 02:36 PM
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