Reid and Levin applaud Senators for "standing up" to administration. WTF?

[fooj]

http://www.firedoglake.com/

<snip>
"A handful of principled Republican Senators have forced the White House to back down from the worst elements of its extreme proposal for new interrogation rules,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader. . . .

And Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised Senators Warner, McCain and Graham as “standing up to the administration” and producing a bill that, “while it has a number of problems, is a substantial improvement over the language proposed by the administration.”

We are now officially the country of torture. The image above of the hooded prisoner is the one that gets used the most not because it is iconic (although it is), but because the others are so horrific people instinctively turn away and don’t want to face the conversation any more. The fact that Levin and Reid would applaud this as "standing up to the administration" is absolutely appalling. Totally aside from the moral bankruptcy and the political naivite they showed in getting punk’d by GOP kabuki, it is anything but an efficacious November strategy. As Glenn Greenwald says:

The only real advantage Democrats have during this election season is that Congressional Republicans are perceived to be rubber-stamping loyalists to George Bush who fail to impose any limits or checks on his behavior. But Sen. Reid and Sen. Levin are here to tell us that this isn’t true, that Republican Senators are actually brave, principled and courageous and boldly stand up to the President in order to protect all of us not only from the Terrorists but also from the occasional excesses of the President.
<snip>


What the hell is going on? Principled? Please. Is that why GRAHAM WAS CENSURED BY A MILITARY COURT this past week. Give me a fricking break.

[AzDar]

1. At this point, all I can manage is:' Help Us, Jeebus! ' n/t

:puke:

[fooj]

3. I don't know what to do about this. I really don't.

WTF are these assholes thinking? What type of blackmail can make people say CRAZY things like this? It's a legitimate question. It's absolutely anti-American to respond in this manner.

[ShortnFiery]

5. These a**holes are on their way out ... I will not ever forget the

deceit of the people for allowing Americans to TORTURE prisoners of war. Damn their Deceit!

Democrats and Republicans of The Senate, have you NO SHAME?!? :grr:

[fooj]

6. Reading this brought me to tears.

Seriously. I can't imagine WTF they are thinking. I feel like renting a billboard saying WANTED: AUTHENTIC AMERICANS!

[ShortnFiery]

22. Hang in there with us, it will get better ... but it's going to be awhile.

That is, people are going to have to hurt bad in their pocket books. Then they MAY just start thinking for themselves vice believing everything they see on the whorish M$M cable news outlets.

With enlightenment, it will get better ... but that takes time, perhaps a decade, perhaps more. :(

[serryjw]

2. " Good job, Brownie"

I give up, this is so embarrassing

[fooj]

4. WE can't give up. I think the PEOPLE need to step in.

This is spiraling WAY out of control.

[serryjw]

21. This has all been going on for decades

with the CIA and the ONLY reason we know about is the internet...Can you imagine a MSM newspaper printing PICS of Abu Ghraib 30 years ago? We all feel guilty over what it has taken to have 'our way of life...Read it and weep!
quote.......
In April 2004, the American public was stunned by televised photographs from Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison showing hooded Iraqis stripped naked, posed in contorted positions, and visibly suffering humiliating abuse while U.S. soldiers stood by smiling. As the scandal grabbed headlines around the globe, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld quickly assured Congress that the abuses were "perpetrated by a small number of U.S. military," whom New York Times columnist William Safire soon branded "creeps."

These photos, however, are snapshots not of simple brutality or even evidence of a breakdown in "military discipline." What they record are CIA torture techniques that have metastasized like an undetected cancer inside the U.S. intelligence community over the past half century. A survey of this history shows that the CIA was, in fact, the lead agency at Abu Ghraib, enlisting Army intelligence to support its mission. These photographs from Iraq also illustrate standard interrogation procedures inside the gulag of secret CIA prisons that have operated globally, on executive authority, since the start of the President's war on terror.
end quote.....
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=1795

MORE if you can take it!
http://democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/17/1522228

[fooj]

26. .

:cry:

[BootinUp]

7. I'm not sure its over

also from the WP article:

But Mr. Levin objected in particular to the rules on coerced evidence. The compromise would ban evidence obtained through “cruel, unusual or inhumane treatment” as defined by the Detainee Torture Act going back to when that act was passed, in December. “This approach, which was insisted upon by the administration, would put our own troops at risk if other countries decide to apply a similar standard, and is abhorrent to American values,” Mr. Levin said.

He argued in favor of language originally proposed by the three senators and approved by the committee, which would exclude statements obtained as result of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, no matter when they were obtained.

Mr. Levin and Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee, say they will try to amend the habeas provisions in the bill.

Mr. Specter plans to hold a hearing on the issue on Monday. But that is not expected to hold up the bill’s proceeding to the floor.

_________________________

So the bill Bush gets could still be quite different than what he wanted and was agreed to by the 3 amigos.

[ShortnFiery]

10. It's now or never, The Democratic Senators must Filibuster!

I'm only one little person, but I'll be damned if I vote for these people in their next Democratic Primary if they do not FIGHT with a Filibuster. :grr:

[fooj]

12. OK...some good news. However, it still doesn't explain Reid's statement

They'll ram it through. They RAM everything through. I'm sick over this. I really am.

I am SOOOO ashamed of my country.:cry:

[MissWaverly]

16. So, he is the signing statement prez

once he gets done with it, it will truly be a "torture bill"

[Kermitt Gribble]

8. This is a huge slap in the face

to everyone who is fighting to take back this country. What the hell are we fighting for with comments like this-from the minority leader, no less?

[Straight Shooter]

9. The words "principled" and "Republican" do not belong in the same sentence

They don't belong in the same paragraph, or on the same page.

There's something going on here, true dat. Maybe they're not giving the Repubs a "Dems are weak on terror" bat to beat us over the head with for now. Whatever bush puts in place, we can overturn when we control Congress.

OTOH, if we don't control Congress soon, then it's over the edge and into the abyss forever as far as the moral high road is concerned.

I just don't like the sound of the current message. It's unnerving. The Dems should draw a line in the sand: no torture, no matter what.

[fooj]

15. AUTHENTIC AMERICANS must draw a line in the sand.

Irregardless of party affiliation...

[Straight Shooter]

19. Good point, fooj. This is not a partisan issue. It is a human issue.

:patriot:

[fooj]

24. Exactly.

:patriot:

[katinmn]

11. There is to be no fillibuster. Just high fives to McCain et al

How morally bankrupt of our "leaders."
:puke:

[Armstead]

13. ".....while it has a few problems..."......WTF?????

Jeeze guys, it has a few huge problems.

Please drink lots of milk. Perhaps the calcium will help build up your backbone.

[pat_k]

14. Making Inalienable Rights UNFORCEABLE is more than "a problem"

. . .it is intolerable in our constitutional democracy.

The so-called "definition problem" is nothing compared to this part (page 79 of Bush's version):

(b) RIGHTS NOT JUDICIALLY ENFORCEABLE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—No person in any habeas action or any other action may invoke the Geneva Conventions or any protocols thereto as a source of rights, whether directly or indirectly, for any purpose in any court of the United or its States or territories.

So, now it's:

. . .We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable, UNENFORCEABLE, Rights.

Turley is the first, and so far the only public figure I'm aware of, who has pointed out this abominable provision.

The War Criminals Protection Act of 2006 has ONE goal -- to protect the War Criminals in the Executive Branch from prosecution for the the war crimes they have committed (and continue to commit).

To that end, the bill seeks to gut U.S. Code of any avenue through which they could be prosecuted, even going so far as to strip our courts of the ability to enforce the most fundemental human rights for ANY OF US. It is a transparent attempt to escape the consequences that their actions would demand in any civilized society. Their attempt to escape prosecution demonstrates their consciousness of guilt.

[fooj]

17. Thank heavens for J. Turley. He gives me hope.

After hearing this bs...I'm freaked out all over again.

[howmad1]

20. Maybe Reid and Levin.....

....are hoping for cushy jobs in the McCain administration starting in 2008. More and more, I'm embarrased to say I am a Democrat. :wtf:

[xxqqqzme]

18. What????

They must have read sonething different than what is being reported. J Turley, on Countdown was quite clear that fearless leader got what he demanded and more...AND it retroactive!!!!....AND no matter what the bill says it is still illegal in the international community.


Besides, I don't think you can use 'principled', 'rethuglican' and 'senator' in the same sentence.

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. Senatorspeak : standing up = grabbing ankles

Unreal.

[fooj]

25. It's horrifying.

[samsingh]

27. even our Senators are out of touch so often

[TankLV]

28. Oh my god! My only hope is that was said BEFORE the REPUKE "compromise".

You know the one, harry - the one NO DEMOCRATS were invited to attend - the ALL REPUKE "conference" at the White House!!!!

Harry's still batting just about 50% for me...