If you’ve been reading my posts for any length of time you know that I’ve been writing about my DISAPPOINTMENT that President Obama chose to “look forward instead of back” regarding TORTURE from the beginning days of his administration.  In fact, I’ve stated MANY times that I believe President Obama and his Attorney General, Eric Holder, were (are) LEGALLY required to have pushed for legal ACCOUNTABILITY regarding what transpired under the Bush/Cheney regime from 2002 until they left office (in disgrace) in early 2009.  Since leaving office BOTH George W Bush and Dick Cheney have ARROGANTLY acknowledged that they AUTHORIZED TORTURE (water boarding among other hideous acts) and would DO IT AGAIN!  That certainly doesn’t feel like regret or remorse to me – and, President Obama’s “pledge” that “we” (America) wont do it again borders on the absurd.  Obama will no longer be president as of the end of 2016 and what if the American people (who just voted in a republican Senate to go along with the republican House) should vote for someone like Ted Cruz or John Kasich or (God forbid) another BUSH (Jeb).

I stated (many times) in the early days of Obama’s administration that his decision to essentially PARDON those in the Bush administration who not only AUTHORIZED TORTURE but actually PUSHED the idea of “enhanced interrogation” was one of the WORST political decision in my lifetime.  While I’ve acknowledged that “Citizens United” conceivably could destroy our democratic republic from the inside out, I believed (and still believe) that President Obama’s decision to “look the other way” – in a different way – could end up being every bit as devastating.  The ramifications of that decision are certainly apparent to me virtually every day as I witness this nation I love spiraling toward second tier status in the eyes of the world.  And, for people like me who feel the “world” is teetering on DISASTER in so many ways – the idea that the United States of America has lost its “moral high ground” is one of the main reasons I see even more disaster on the world’s horizon.  Thanks to Bush/Cheney and the subsequent enabling they received from President Obama the rest of the world is no longer looking up to America.  This all is mind numbing bad in so many ways.

I’ll list some of the “ramifications” here – but, they certainly fall into the “I could go on and on” category – so, I’ll try to limit myself to something that ends up being readable in less than an entire evening.  First, the effect this decision (to look the other way) has had on the legal system itself.  I don’t believe there’s much doubt among those who are turned off by how our government is functioning that our legal system is RIGGED for those at the top.  Not only were the members of Bush/Cheney et al allowed to “skate” after publicly admitting to authorizing WAR CRIMES and/or carrying them (the crimes) out – but, at the same time this all came down, the Wall Street bankers were bludgeoning the retirement accounts of MILLIONS of working Americans and, to this day – six + years later – not a SINGLE Wall Street “bankster” has face accountability for their reckless actions.  In fact, the common perception is that it didn’t take Wall Street long to pass out the bailout money in the form of bonuses for the bad behavior – and, then start right back up again with “business as usual.”  It didn’t seem as if “we the people” even got a “slap on the wrist” in.  I’m bringing the Wall Street stuff up – because, the so-called “Tea Party” movement was spawned by this fiasco which led to the republican controlled House – controlled by some extreme “right wingers” and the relentless attacks that have followed – many seeming to me to be racist – at our sitting president.  (and, by the way, in the “category” of irony of ironies – this same Tea Party republican party is now responsible for RE-ENABLING the “too big to fail” banks, in the pending “omnibus spending bill” before the Senate as I’m writing this which would roll back the provision passed in the “Dodd-Frank” bill of the “Great Recession” that would prevent the government from bailing out the “banksters” when their gambling goes bad.  Unbelievable!  This move falls into the category of typical Washington DC political blackmail)

And (getting back to the TORTURE issue), where did this looking the other way get President Obama?  He stated he didn’t want the distraction of the investigations (and presumably the prosecutions) to get in the way of his proposed agenda. (which included the Affordable Care Act, Wall Street Reform (now being gutted as mentioned above), and a stimulus bill (among other first term goals).  To me, what was accomplished was the republicans took this reluctance to hold them accountable kind of like a shark takes to blood in the water.  It was like a HUGE “go” sign to them in the plan to disrupt and obstruct EVERYTHING the president was/is for!  As Rush Limbaugh said, “I want this president to FAIL!” – or as Mitch McConnell stated, “Our (republicans) number one goals is to make President Obama a one term president.”  What I’m saying is that I believe President Obama got WAY MORE distraction by failing to seek accountability for an administration that had OBVIOUSLY broken MANY laws!  Not only was it common knowledge that Bush/Cheney et al had committed WAR CRIMES, but anyone paying attention knew they had violated the FISA law, that someone (presumably Cheney) had outed a CIA agent, they had politicized the Justice Department and one of their surrogates had ILLEGALLY required “loyalty oaths” (to the republican party) for new hires there, several had LIED directly to Congress, agencies were being undermined from the inside leaving consumers and workers at risk, and I could go on and on.  When President Obama publicly demonstrated he did not have the WILL to address these illegal overreaches of the Bush/Cheney regime he invited what he’s been getting from republicans for the past 6 years.

Looking the other way sent the EXACT wrong message around the world.  In fact, the government of Spain, at one point, began their own investigation into the War Crimes of Bush/Cheney et al – presumably stopping at the behest of the Obama administration.  This indifference to the seriousness of these deplorable actions (the Torture) sent the absolute wrong message around the world.  Maybe the American people were brainwashed to believe that these actions were justified and “useful” (despite ALL the evidence showing that torture doesn’t produce “actionable intelligence”) but the people outside of the United States – around the world and especially in the Middle East – knew/know better!  Personally, I don’t excuse anyone in America for not knowing what was going on.  The Senate now has published a highly redacted “summary” of a 6000 page investigation into America’s TORTURE program – and, based on what I’ve heard it says that things were “worse than we thought” – but, we all saw the images from Abu Ghraib and we’ve all heard for years about the “enhanced interrogations,” Guantanamo, “extraordinary rendition,” and how Americans were transporting “enemy combatants” to countries around the world notorious for TORTURE.  None of this has been a secret and, from my own experience, I can attest to the FACT there have been MANY books written that detail the CRIMES committed by our CIA along with the “private contractors” they worked with based on authorization that came directly from the White House and the Secretary of Defense’s office.  Seriously, shame on us!

Here’s some examples of some of the TORTURE I was familiar with LONG before the Senate report was published.  For starters, early in the “war on terror” there were corroborated reports of Americans randomly picking up “enemy combatants” based on the “word” of personal enemies of the so-called combatants AND the Americans were PAYING the informants.  I’ll let you put 2 + 2 together on that one.  Subsequently, scores of “enemy combatants” were jammed into vans that had no ventilation and were “transported” to various “black holes” presumably to face the now infamous “enhanced interrogation” only to discover that many of the “combatants” died en route via suffocation.  I haven’t heard much reporting on this deplorable fact for several years.

We all were exposed to Abu Ghraib – and, the atrocious conditions and treatment prisoners received there (and, to make matters worst, this was where Saddam Hussein was torturing Iraqi’s).  I read a book that specifically was about Abu Ghraib (and, the information in that book was corroborated in other publications I read subsequently) and there is little doubt in my mind that the directions for the treatment of prisoners came directly from Donald Rumsfeld’s office of the Secretary of Defense (or higher).  The book clearly explained (in detail) how at least one prisoner was interrogated by some “specialist” and ended up DEAD.  There was an attempt to cover up this MURDER, but the bottom line with Abu Ghraib was that the “grunts” who were “in charge” – none of them trained even to be prison guards and all of them thinking they were following orders (well, I should say most of them) were sent to prison and the American public was led to believe these lower level Army personnel devised this terrible treatment on their own.  “Dirty Wars” by Jeremy Scahill was a book I read years after the Abu Ghraib book that really spelled out how disgusting our “war on terror” became!

There was another report that came out a few years ago regarding the “suicide” of three detainees in Guantanamo.  Our government classified the deaths as “suicide,” but there was never a public investigation and the guards, who were supposed to be watching the cells every 10 minutes or so, were never allowed to testify why the bodies had been hanging for two hours before being discovered.  Additionally, “we the people” are expected to believe that these were suicides despite the FACT all three were found hanging with sheets turned into nooses, each body had his hands tied behind his back, his feet were bound together, and each prisoner had a wad of cloth crammed so far down his throat it was difficult to get out after they were dead.  I’ve been puzzled since I heard this how a person could do all that.  It would be difficult enough to cram a wad of cloth down your own throat (to the point where breathing was impossible), but how does a person do that and then bind their feet, tie their hands behind their own back, and put a noose around their own neck?  I don’t get it.  If you would like to read another account, click here.

This topic is FINALLY back in the news because (miraculously, I thought it’d never happen) a summary (redacted) of a 6000 page Senate Intelligence committee investigation – the summary is reportedly about 600 pages – was published by Senate Democrats getting it out before the republicans take control of the Senate in January.  As you might imagine, had the democrats waited this report would have never seen the light of day.  The report is DAMNING and, supposedly, things were much worst than even someone like me (who’s read as much as I can find on this travesty) was led to understand.  For example, I’m still trying to understand what is “rectal feeding?”

All it should have required for these investigations to have been undertaken years ago, and publicly, was the admission (on national TV no less) by both GW Bush and Dick Cheney that they had authorized WAR CRIMES!  Even worse, to me, is that they both still maintain, despite the evidence saying otherwise, that they gained useful information and they both have said they’d “do it again.”  People around the world are now demanding accountability.  If I were George W Bush or Dick Cheney I would be careful about vacationing in Europe or other parts of the world.  This all violates our own laws and the international laws represented by the Geneva Conventions.  I believe it was Ronald Reagan who signed the international pledge that America would not commit TORTURE in 1988.   GW Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others are allegedly guilty of WAR CRIMES.

As one would expect in today’s America the report on TORTURE has been met with partisan rancor – as is usual with just about any issue that comes to the fore these days.  I’ve listened to as much Fox “news” (I call it GOP TV) as I can stand, and the same minions that are always defending the “right” no matter the issue are lining up in support – mainly of Dick Cheney – I believe he’s refuting the report because he is now in SERIOUS legal jeopardy.  I’ve heard Sean Hannity throwing “softballs” Cheney’s way, Bill O’Reilly giving his usual “I’m a puppet for the ‘right'” response – and Fox giving Cheney every opportunity to continue his absurd arguments that TORTURE “kept us safe” after 9/11.  In Cheney’s case it’s called “CYA!”  In the case of the Fox “pundits” it’s called participating in the “Big Lie Theory” – pure propaganda!  And, unfortunately, there’s way too many Americans who believe Fox is actually a “news channel.”

The one republican who I’ve heard speaking out about this issue in a straight forward manner is John McCain.  Of course, as most Americans know, McCain was a victim of TORTURE as a POW in Viet Nam for 5 1/2 years.  I find it interesting (it tells all we need to know about the media in today’s America) that McCain (at least when I heard his comments) was on MSNBC.  Normally, I would expect to hear McCain speaking on Fox – I don’t know if he has on this subject, but I doubt they would allow his thoughts on their network.  I have heard Cheney, several times and his response to the report is nothing less than COMBATANT and ARROGANT!  He called the findings during one of the interviews I heard, “a bunch of crap.”  (his exact words) – of course, one of the methods he authorized was handcuffing prisoners to bars attached to the ceiling of their cells so that their arms were extended above their heads for entire days (and nights – like 22 hours at a time) with no clothing except a diaper and no ability to relieve themselves except into the diaper.  Do you think that’s why he called this report “a bunch of crap?”  I’m finding it hard to believe that Dick Cheney gets a “say” ANYTHING anywhere anymore.  As far as I’m concerned, the only “say” Dick Cheney should have regarding TORTURE, is defending himself before the Hague!