By John Cusack, Huffington Post. Posted May 19, 2009.
We can't whitewash institutionalized torture, trash any conceivable notion of the rule of law, and call that 'looking forward.'
If I had the President's Blackberry, I would send this.
President Obama,
On Wednesday you reversed your administration's promise to finally release pictures of detainee abuse.
The release of the photos was won by ACLU lawyers who have fought to bring to light the full extent of the brutality and torture that U.S. Army and intelligence services have perpetrated against human beings in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and at CIA "black sites" around the world. Torture that was sanctioned and effectively legalized under the former administration, and that, if we are to be honest, most Americans knew -- or should have known -- was being carried out in our names.
Read on...
Peacenik is not keeping Peacenik's disappointment with Obama and the Democrats a secret. And the issues just keep piling up. Peacenik watched some of the Sunday morning talk shows...and Peacenik wanted to puke. The primary topic of discussion wasn't torture or the tribunals. It was all about what Pelosi knew about the torture and when she knew it. Even this is old news. The media continues to be an arm of the Bush/Rove/Cheney media machine. The gambling addicted Bennett was on, being his usual hypocritical self. And of course Newt, who the media is grooming for a run for the presidency, was being his usual sanctimonious, hypocritical self.
The Democrats don't seem to know how the frame any issue. The can't even effectively condemn torture. They can't even effectively counter Bennett and Gingrich, two of the tiredest most irrelevant pundits around. Why is anyone tiptoeing around the torture story? Is torture wrong? Yes. Should torturers be held accountable? Yes. Should there be a special prosecutor? Yes. Its simple.
