John Cusack's Letter To The President

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-cusack/a-hollow-and-horrible-equ_b_203817.html

A Hollow and Horrible Equivocation
John Cusack


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.

Only now is the knowledge starting to give rise to the widespread outrage and calls for accountability that such crimes against humanity deserve. Growing numbers of citizens are demanding the independent investigation and prosecution of the members of the Bush administration responsible for the vitiation of fundamental legal principles like habeas corpus and the flagrant violation of both international and domestic laws against torture. The pundits, hacks and shills who dismiss these calls for investigation and prosecution -- integral to any serious definition of accountability -- disgrace themselves and their country.

The situation in which we now find ourselves is so bizarre, it's hard to fathom. New revelations continue to surface -- we learn that Vice President Cheney's office ordered and specified how a man was to be tortured, and mounting evidence suggests the United States tortured to extract false confessions that would justify preemptive war on Iraq. Yet a Democratic president leads a Democratic congress to whitewash institutionalized torture and in effect trash any conceivable notion of the rule of law, all in the name of "looking forward."

And now we hear that the administration will block the release of new evidence in this hideous criminal conspiracy. Now you, the president who came to power with promises of transparency and change, say you don't want to release the photos because they "will further inflame anti-American sentiment" and endanger U.S. troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ACLU lucidly replies:

"It is true that these photos would be disturbing; the day we are no longer disturbed by such repugnant acts would be a sad one. In America, every fact and document gets known -- whether now or years from now. And when these photos do see the light of day, the outrage will focus not only on the commission of torture by the Bush administration but on the Obama administration's complicity in covering them up. Any outrage related to these photos should be due not to their release but to the very crimes depicted in them."

Maybe, Mr. President, you've succumbed to all the fear-mongering that the Bush administration and Republican Party sold for so long. Most Democrats have been silent enablers so consistently -- maybe we've all bought into it. We know the truth but we still can't admit it; just as for years signs and traces of torture performed in our name were there, we saw without seeing, and knew without knowing. When those first photos from Abu Ghraib were broadcast around the world five years ago, we told ourselves the sadism was the work of just a few maniacs. When we heard the privatization frenzy that spread like a cancer through the Bush years extended even to interrogation -- effectively making torture its own nightmarish "cottage industry" -- we looked away. And now our first official response is to let it all slide... and just move on.

If we do, we are truly lost. This kind of willful collective blindness must not endure, and it must never happen again. It's not enough to be against torture, in this new political moment when speaking out against it is suddenly in vogue. All the information now so readily available contradicts all the official narratives: that we didn't know, a few bad apples, that those responsible have already been investigated and punished. And then there's the outrageous substitute for a narrative, the debate about whether or not torture works. It's a question so insane, it probably makes bin Laden grin like a Cheshire cat.

So, if torture works, we should... perfect it and use it? Complete insanity.

We must finally be able to look at the photos and see and understand that the broken and humiliated bodies of men half-way around the world depicted therein represent not only the systematically applied U.S. policies, but also the horrible and likely inevitable ramifications of military occupations of other countries.

We hope, Mr. President, you will lead, but the Constitution doesn't allow you to obstruct justice... The Department of Justice must act with conviction and follow the law.

We understand the enormous pressures and complexities you confront everyday. But the old defenses for these crimes sound hollow and horrible coming from your lips. You are defending the indefensible.

Releasing all the photos depicting detainee abuse and initiating an independent inquiry and prosecution of those responsible at the highest level is the only way forward.

This is not an issue of partisan politics. It's a police matter... the investigation of a crime scene in which many more of us are complicit than is comfortable to recognize.

Sincerely,

Your name here.

[walldude]

1. "A crime scene"... nails it. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

2. What a wonderful letter.

I've always liked him. Too bad he turned out to be a sicko freeper who wants to see the President fail.


















:sarcasm:

[Bluebear]

4. Cusack is a PUMA who didn't get his pony.

:sarcasm:

[Starry Messenger]

6. Making that ad for the Obama campaign for MoveOn?

http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/electionfever/archive/2008/06/13/john-cusack-gets-his-move-on-in-obama-tv-ad.aspx

What a clever ruse! Aye, the genius and the wonder of the rascal. What foresight.

[ZombieHorde]

31. He is playing chess while the rest of us are playing go fish. nt

[Starry Messenger]

34. Nicely done Zombie.

:D

(It's interesting, as an aside. When these conversations about all the moves in chess are discussed about these issues, how come righteous outrage from the left is never seen as another piece on the board?)

[LooseWilly]

41. Well I did once suggest

... that, as the pawn others would have me be, I felt that I'd advanced to the other side of the board... and asked to be promoted to rook.

I'm still waiting for my castle (Who needs a fecking pony? I want a castle!!)

[moodforaday]

49. Don't believe that for a moment.

It's just wishful thinking - that the president would try to make things progressively worse, to ensure that some sort of a popular movement will eventually sweep in and force changes. You could be thinking the same about Bush, after all - in theory.

What I find really puzzling instead is how many people try to come to terms with what they think/know is wrong by theorizing that behind the visible deed there has to be some goodness, some unseen benign purpose. I don't think there's any historical record of that.

[IndianaGreen]

7. I am beginning to wonder if we would have been better off with a President Hillary Clinton

Where is the Obama we elected?

[LooseWilly]

5. Forceful, and yet polite...

... too bad he's a Hollywood Liberal.
Everyone knows it's too politically risky to be seen to side with Hollywood Liberals...

:sarcasm:

[liberalmuse]

3. That is wonderful.

It's times like these I wish I could write. This is fucking devastating. I never thought a Democratic President and Congress would cover up such horrific stuff. I expected the ugly, lizard Republicans to salivate and jack off to torture and human misery, but I never expected it from the party I most associate with.

I never thought America would torture, and worse, never thought Americans would be justifying this shit on my tv and in the papers. Republicans have morally and literally bankrupted and destroyed this country. It only took them a couple decades to do it, but we are so fucking lost. I thought President Obama was a man of honor, but if he continues to cover up Bush's crimes, and protect torture, then I will never forgive him. This is a legacy we do not want to leave, or subject our posterity to. It is unthinkable.

[cascadiance]

29. Damn, if Cusack wasn't such a great actor putting out good stuff like War, Inc., I'd want him to...

... run for office! That was a well written, to the point, and thoughtful letter.

[rgbecker]

8. Would I be giving Obama too much credit if I thought this was the plan?

Obama saves himself for the political fights he holds dear: Education, Health care and ending the wars. Sends the photo problem to the courts to decide and he comes out a hero of the fighting man in Iraq and Afghanistan. The courts will show the photos...no harm done to the Pres. except the few left wingers, who will at that time be happy to see the pics.

[Bluebear]

10. Devil's advocate: It is not up to him to circumvent transparancy for his own dear causes

Just sayin'.

[IndianaGreen]

11. Hear, hear!

And we complained about Bush politicizing the Justice Department.

[rgbecker]

16. In this case, it is up to Him.

The guy is clearly a practical politician, and he can easily pass this up to the courts and come out smelling like a rose to a larger majority. But let me be clear, I don't get or like the military tribunals for 20 gitmo detainees. These guys should be in the regular court system. If there is no evidence, let them go and follow them around with some of our million heroes in the military.

[polichick]

18. Correct, if he meant that oath of office.

[Cha]

13. President Obama has proven

himself over and over again but they still come out of the woodwork to smear their snarky hate whenever things aren't not going their way RIGHT NOW.

[dflprincess]

22. Given the way he's crawled into bed with the health insurance companies

I think you can cross "health care" off his list of "fights he holds dear". He, along with most the alleged Dems in Congress have made it pretty clear that protecting insurance company profits are their first concern.

And yes, it will harm the President not to release these photos. It pretty much tells the rest of the world that current president is going to do his best to cover up for the last one.

[Thrill]

9. Obama isn't breaking any law. He has the right to use the appeal process

You can't have it both ways. If you want the constitution upheld. Then the President has the right to appeal all the way to the Supreme Court if he so chooses

[LooseWilly]

12. As a matter of fact, I think that's exactly who he's appealing it to now.

Funny thing though, the DoJ has time and energy to appeal this case, but they can't spare the manpower to do any investigations...

[FrenchieCat]

14. Who says they aren't investigating?

YOu don't really know, do you? Just opining and hoping it makes sense, hey?

[LooseWilly]

19. You're right, I really don't know, do I?

I mean, maybe they're just saying publicly that they aren't interested in investigating, but meanwhile... in an undisclosed location... the DoJ is really holding super-secret extra-special investigations that the National Press Corp still hasn't gotten wind of...

I find that to be a highly credible theory. :sarcasm:

I know that Senator Whitehouse has been conducting some hearings on the subject... but the Senate Judiciary Committee isn't the DoJ, is it?

[FrenchieCat]

21. You actually answered your own question....you really don't know.

[LooseWilly]

24. No, I have no proof of a negative.

I also have no hints of a positive, that there is any investigating going on.

I have seen no sign or hint of any investigations from the press... and any journalist would jump on the story, were there covert investigations going on... because it would sell a mountain of papers, draw media appearances, increase ratings... it would do all the things that the corporations that run the media want to do in order to make themselves money.
But, nevertheless, there's no hint.

Are you trying to suggest that I should just relax and trust that the DoJ is holding covert investigations into torture?... well then far be it from me to argue.

Your assumptions and faith are obviously more reassuring than the conclusions of my analyses of all the evidence that I've managed to find so far.

[FrenchieCat]

26. No, I was commenting on your quote...."they can't spare the manpower to do any investigations"

and I simply replied that you don't really know that they are not investigating.

The only correct answer is that you don't know.....period.

[LooseWilly]

30. Frenchie, you are attacking my quote from the wrong end.

If you are simply looking to rhetorically assault and destroy that quote, you should instead assert that "You are patently wrong LooseWilly. The DoJ does, in fact, have more than enough manpower to investigate."

If you had approached it that way, I would have had to admit that you are correct, that the DoJ does in fact have plenty of manpower, they just aren't willing to assign anyone to investigate allegations and evidence of torture.

Instead, you keep repeating some sort of weird assertion that, despite all the points I cited that lead to the inevitable conclusion that there are no DoJ investigations into torture abuses under the Bush Administration, that none of that is enough to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the DoJ is not investigating.

I don't know that the DoJ is not investigating torture... but I likewise don't know that there aren't space aliens doing laps around the solar system and occasionally coming by the Earth to mutilate some cattle because they love eating cow eyeballs and genitalia.
Both are, at this point, from what I know, equally likely.

Hell, for all I know, Obama has appointed a little gray space alien to be the lead investigator, and they're conducting these covert investigations on a mother ship that is orbiting Saturn because they prefer to view of the rings to that on any other planet in the solar system... which, come to think of it, would also explain why no member of the press has yet gotten wind of these covert DoJ investigations.

If you feel comfortable using that scenario as an example of "reasonable doubt", then I can live with that, and I will cede your point... contingent on your acceptance of that scenario as likely, I acknowledge that I really don't have any concrete proof that the DoJ is not holding investigations.

If you find that scenario to be a crock of fanciful bullshit, then I likewise am forced to conclude that the notion that the DoJ is currently investigating is fanciful bullshit.

If you'd care to provide me with some source that indicates that the DoJ is investigating, I would be happy to examine that information. And I would smile as I did so... happy to be wrong. Since you haven't done so in your three repetitious attempts to share your dream... I doubt that the fourth time will be the charm.

Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.
:+

[Forkboy]

38. Mmmmmmm.....cow eyeballs and genitalia.

[LooseWilly]

39. D'oh!

Actually, I had a cow eyeball taco one afternoon in Mexico City. Crunchy, yet moist...

... D'oh!!!

I've had brains and stomach too... I guess I'll need to find a Space Alien specialty store to get me some udder. Maybe the clerk will even have some news on how the investigation's progressing...

[cascadiance]

27. The problem is, you DON'T have the right if Obama uses State Secrets privilege AGAIN like Bush has!

... so many times over and over again whenever someone tries to take the government to court and there's even a smell of any excuse for secrecy he can use.

[vaberella]

15. Everyone here seems to underestimate our President...Whatever. n/t

[ZombieHorde]

32. What would be the proper estimate of our President? nt

[polichick]

17. So true - releasing the pics and appointing a S.P. really is "the only way forward." nt

[zulchzulu]

20. Apparently Cusack is clueless that the Justice Dept. is investigating...

What a wanker. I thought Cusack was smarter than that.

[Cha]

23. Just goes to show ya..

nobody's perfect. Cusack is covering all the bases of why they should be shown now but not taking anything else into consideration and suggesting "Maybe, Mr. President, you've succumbed to all the fear-mongering that the Bush administration and Republican Party sold for so long. Most Democrats have been silent enablers so consistently..."

is just a gratuitious whine.

[LooseWilly]

25. I am clueless on this point as well.

Do, please, illuminate me. What steps has the DoJ taken to investigate?

[cascadiance]

28. I think Bush used to tell us he was investigatin' too on many occasions...

... like if anyone did anything wrong in the Valerie Plame incident...

[IndianaGreen]

36. Has a grand jury been impaneled?

Has Holder appointed a prosecutor?

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

This week is our second quarter 2009 fund drive.
Donate and you'll be automatically entered into our daily contest.
New prizes daily!



No purchase or donation necessary. Void where prohibited. Click here for more information.

[defendandprotect]

35. Wonderful for John Cusack to do - admire him . . .

I'm feeling newly sickened by what Obama has done to withhold this evidence of gross

and inhuman torture -- towards children!!

When known fascists are murdering, torturing and covering up, it's one thing --

When the president we've elected to set the world aright again is helping the
cover up by withholding information, it's a different kind of betrayal - but it's still
betrayal.

Besides all this, Obama has to speak out clearly and loudly to the soldiers to tell them
there is to be no more torture ever again. To tell them how he will protect them from
such orders -- to tell them to feel secure to come forward with information -- to tell
them that he is at the same time speaking to military leadership and intelligence services
to make it completely and unquestionably clear that every soldier must be educated as to
Constitution's "no cruel or unusual punishment," as to Military law against torture,
the Geneva Accords -- and to the wisdom that torture is not to be permitted at any time
at any level, against anyone.
And, PS . . . it doesn't work, even if it weren't illegal.
Our courts also bar evidence gained by torture.

There should also be an apology to the world for our behavior --
and apology to all those tortured and to their families.

Saddam paid $350 billion for his offenses in Kuwait?

If anyone could set a price on what we have done over the last six year -- morally,
financially -- I feel there is no way we could ever make amends.

Nonetheless, I hope those who agree that we need prosecutions and all evidence released
will keep pounding on the president and Democrats.

The ACLU lucidly replies:


"It is true that these photos would be disturbing; the day we are no longer disturbed by such repugnant acts would be a sad one. In America, every fact and document gets known -- whether now or years from now. And when these photos do see the light of day, the outrage will focus not only on the commission of torture by the Bush administration but on the Obama administration's complicity in covering them up. Any outrage related to these photos should be due not to their release but to the very crimes depicted in them."


Maybe, Mr. President, you've succumbed to all the fear-mongering that the Bush administration and Republican Party sold for so long. Most Democrats have been silent enablers so consistently -- maybe we've all bought into it. We know the truth but we still can't admit it; just as for years signs and traces of torture performed in our name were there, we saw without seeing, and knew without knowing. When those first photos from Abu Ghraib were broadcast around the world five years ago, we told ourselves the sadism was the work of just a few maniacs. When we heard the privatization frenzy that spread like a cancer through the Bush years extended even to interrogation -- effectively making torture its own nightmarish "cottage industry" -- we looked away. And now our first official response is to let it all slide... and just move on.

[Jakes Progress]

37. Watch out John.

No expects the Purity Inquisition.

[Senator]

40. K&R

[boppers]

42. Lovely letter. Do you (does Cusak?) know what's in the photos?

Here's the problem:

Based on the shit I've seen leaked (I surf some pretty.... ugly sites), some of the content will make most reasonable people vomit and pass out. It's basically a combination of kiddie-porn, snuff, and straight gore. I'm not joking.

For those of you who don't know what that means, I'll lay it out for you, in a less graphical manner. The existing media of what some of our troops have done is so ugly, so immoral, that it would be a crime in the US to even release or publish it.

In addition, it's a Geneva Conventions violation to publish humiliation media.

Oh, and there's the matter of protecting the victims. We don't release rape evidence photos, let alone the rapist trophy photos, in the US, for a reason.

So, if you really want to hear a 12-year-old girl being anally raped by our soldiers... to humiliate and extract a "confession" from her father who was forced to listen, or see bunches of photos of men beaten to death, or forced, at gunpoint, to sodomize each other, great.

Find it on the internet, it's out there.

Don't expect it to ever get "released by the whitehouse", though. Obama doesn't need a title like that, and frankly, most people don't need to see it.

[LooseWilly]

43. I seem to recall seeing that the ACLU (who requested the photos in the first place)...

... were fine with the photos being sent to a special prosecutor/investigator for use in an investigations, in lieu of releasing the photos.

If the stuff is as graphic as you suggest, then all the more reason to actually go through with investigations. Appoint a special investigator/prosecutor... hand him/her the photos... and set him/her loose. Problem solved.

If the Administration/DoJ aren't willing to make that compromise... then I hope the ACLU fights it to the Supreme Court, and releases the photos... and the American public pukes its guts out. I know I don't want to see what you've described... but if it was done in "my name", I suppose I owe it to someone to make with the gagging and the puking and the passing out.

I guess I'll go google my self-imposed pennance now... because my faith in the Obama administration thinking my views are anything but asshattery are slim at best...

[boppers]

45. "as graphic as you suggest"... it's that and worse.

Several people are already in jail for it.

Question: If you were President, would you want the trophy images (or whatever) of every psychopath who makes it in to the service shown as "symbols of the US"?

As symbols of *you*?

There's some mighty ugly images, and history, there.

[LooseWilly]

46. I'd heard some stories of some really ugly stuff...

... I didn't know that these photos were the same ugly stuffs.

Answer: No, obviously (well... presumably) I wouldn't want the trophy images shown as "symbols of the US". However, in a very real way, in an awful lot of places, they already are... I mean, the images aren't out, but I'm sure the stories are. And, as they were US soldiers/contractors... there is a certain responsibility to own up to. If it were me... I'd happily take the compromise the ACLU is reputed to have offered, of releasing the photos and whatnot to a special prosecutor, and let that prosecutor go crazy prosecuting anyone responsible.

Obviously, with an attitude like that, I'll never be elected President.

I am perhaps a bad American... but I think that the Public needs to own up to, and acknowledge, that horrific things were done in our name. If steps are taken to hold someone accountable, preferably someone who was actually responsible, then we've done our part... but as long as the Public insists on living in denial, and the authorities continue to shelter them so that they can live in denial... I think that there is a... stain on the collective US soul (why does MacBeth suddenly come to mind?).

I think I suspect, and here I'm starting to grope through my opinions as they form... but I suddenly suspect that, if the Public does not face this and actually deal with it, now... this will be the cancerous social tumor for the next 40 years that My Lai and the rest of Viet Nam was for the last 40 years.
We will be arguing not about baby killing troops, but little girl raping contractors... and half the country will be bemoaning how the Public and Country could have sunk so low... while the other half of the country will be trumpeting how raping children kept more office buildings from being attacked.

I might be totally wrong... but the scope of this, as it folds into the growing suspicion of torture being used to retroactively justify a war of aggression... billows out into full blown war crimes and a general disdain for world opinion, let alone the world court... at a time when the economy is going global... or trying... I suspect that trying to put off/ignore this issue until it becomes domestically politically expedient might well be a horribly wrong approach.

Or I might have my head up my idealistic ass. I just feel like it's an opinion that has to be voiced. If the rest of the Public decides I'm an asshole... so be it. I've always related to Animal Farm's Benjamin, not to mention Cassandra of Troy...

[boppers]

47. I think your My Lai comparison is apt.

I think this is also similar to the ignorance about the hibakusha.

People will argue about the relative morality of this for a long time, regardless of what records are "officially" released.

As far as the US living in denial, well, events as old as the Trail of Tears still aren't taught in many classrooms... the US has a bitter, ugly history, that many folks would like to ignore, so they can be "proud" of their country. Nationalism is a fairly difficult thing to fight.

[Hieronymus]

44. Love John Cusack and his letter. That should set off some on DU, though.

[Bluebear]

50. "I haven't watched John Cusack movies ever since ______"

Fill in some meaningless idiocy.

[Hieronymus]

51. LOL, no replies so far.

[redqueen]

48. I can't argue with any of that.

My favorite part was from the ACLU.

And when these photos do see the light of day, the outrage will focus not only on the commission of torture by the Bush administration but on the Obama administration's complicity in covering them up. Any outrage related to these photos should be due not to their release but to the very crimes depicted in them."