Saturday, March 05, 2005

Flagrant obstruction of justice

Alberto Gonzales promises to remain "consistent with our values and legal obligations."

It's still hard to believe that this man is our Attorney General.

And I'll (insert fake, cynical southern accent) be damned if he actually decides to revisit his conscience (if he had any in the first place) and make the obvious connection that THIS, as reported by the reputable New York Times, is DEFINITENLY NOT consistent with the values of the United States of America.

The Bush administration's secret program to transfer suspected terrorists to foreign countries for interrogation has been carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency under broad authority that has allowed it to act without case-by-case approval from the White House or the State or Justice Departments, according to current and former government officials.

Well, not that Dubya, Condi, or Gonzales would do anything to stop this. I'm not surprised, really. What I can't comprehend is why anybody would condone this? Why would anybody approve a man who has a distinct HISTORY of questionable morals and values... quite contradictory of what Bush has touted for the past five (long) years.
Before I get sidetracked by my wrath against the Bible Belt conservatives, who literally protest with signs saying "NO special laws for fags" when their city passes acts that would ensure gay couples some of the rights as married couples... This isn't some liberal NYTimes propaganda. It's real.
The covert transfers by the C.I.A. have faced sharp criticism, in part because of the accounts provided by former prisoners who say they were beaten, shackled, humiliated, subjected to electric shocks, and otherwise mistreated during their long detention in foreign prisons before being released without being charged.
Oh, and what did Alberto Gonzales say a while ago?
In the most explicit statement of the administration's policies, Alberto R. Gonzales, then the White House counsel, said in written Congressional testimony in January that "the policy of the United States is not to transfer individuals to countries where we believe they likely will be tortured, whether those individuals are being transferred from inside or outside the United States." Mr. Gonzales said then that he was "not aware of anyone in the executive branch authorizing any transfer of a detainee in violation of that policy."
So that can mean two things.
1. Alberto Gonzales and George W. Bush are blatant, lying bastards who get away with torture because they're stupid enough to fool the public.
2. Bush, as the chief of the Executive branch, is NOT capable of doing his job if he can't even figure out what the CIA is doing before the New York Times. Yes, they're hell of a lot smarter than he is. But he is supposed to be privy to such information. If some federal judge was doing some outrageous things, then it really wouldn't have much to do with Dubya. But Mr. President, if you can't get your own administration to listen to you (or whatever you feed to the imbecilic American people), you must not be working hard enough.
And yes, I'm still not an American citizen, so I can happily exclude myself and flaunt my South Korean citizenship when I call the majority of the American people a bunch of "imbeciles."