Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson is back in the news, arguing that directives to continue torture in Iraq and Afghanistan can be traced directly to Dick Cheney’s office.
Wilkerson’s arguments are almost impossible to believe:
He said the directives contradicted a 2002 order by President George W. Bush for the U.S. military to abide by the Geneva conventions against torture.
Wilkerson, a former aide to Colin Powell, seems to be making the argument that Cheney and Rumsfeld are conducting the war and its operations almost on their own–with little input from State or even the President. It fits the pattern of this Administration–the CEO President just seems to have been content to let Cheney/Rumsfeld conduct the torture branch.
And then, in a move that almost defies belief, Cheney went to the Senate to push for an exemption on torture by the CIA, as Dan noted earlier. When the the Executive branch of the US federal government has to argue for an exemption that permits torture, what principals do we as a nation have left? What possible position to lead the world towards a better stand on human rights? Bush and his torturing pals are moving this country towards being a pariah state–one with no respect at home or abroad.
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