BUSH NOT ONLY KNEW ABOUT TORTURE PROGRAM BUT MAY HAVE ORDERED IT

[kpete]

Legal expert: President Bush may have ordered torture of terror suspects David Edwards and Andrew Bielak
Published: Saturday March 10, 2007

The US government began hearings on Friday to determine if 14 accused terrorists currently being held at Guantanamo Bay can be deemed enemy combatants. The hearings, which have been closed to independent observers, are receiving heavy criticism for their secretive nature and what some are calling pre-determined outcomes.

"The administration has been almost pathological in trying to find ways to keep these people from ever seeing a real judge or a real lawyer," John Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, told the Associated Press, "and the reasons are obvious."

Turley, among many legal analysts, believes that the likelihood that torture tactics were used on the detainees has heightened the administration's state of secrecy for fear of public retribution. The law professor also suggested that President Bush not only knew about the torture program but may have ordered it.

"It seems pretty clear that they've been tortured," Turley told the AP, "and that the president knew they were being tortured, and may have even ordered their torture through techniques like water boarding."

more at:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_begins_secret_hearings_at_Gitmo_0310.html

[malaise]

1. What a surprise

NOT

[Greeby]

2. I only dispute that in this sense....

I dispute the idea that Bush orders anything in this administration. As far as I can tell, he's Reagan and Cheney is Bush Sr. If you get my meaning

[Maccagirl]

8. History may very well prove you correct

There's certainly enough evidence re: Poppy in the Reagan Admin to back you up. I think both schools of thought may be right-Junior is much more of an ideologue than Daddy, thus much for inclined to take the lead once the idea (torture) is mentioned as policy.

[TahitiNut]

19. He's Mortimer Snerd ...

... and Cheney is Edgar Bergen. That sneer on Cheney's face is merely the effort to keep his lips from moving.

[Hepburn]

36. So true...

...however, if Bush KNEW about it and did NOTHING, that is just as bad. And lying about it ~~ well, that sure as hell makes him as guilty as the ones who OK'd it or ordered it. Tacit approval, IMO, is just the same as giving the order. As Truman said: "The buck stops here."

[Solly Mack]

3. I never thought otherwise

Never will either

[Swamp Rat]

10. Of course, he's the Head Rotten Egg

:hi:

[Solly Mack]

12. Cool!!

lol

[ray of light]

4. read Canary in the Coalmine...and youll discover the whole administration

was likely involved.

Jesselyn Radack was the ethics attorney who adviced against torturing John Walker Lindh. Read the book. Then read the epilogue.

http://www.patriotictruthteller.net

[cmd]

5. From frogs to people

He does not respect life.

[Cha]

6. bush ordering torture?!

bush has the dream job for his sadist nature.

[Sadie4629]

7. I'm just shocked, shocked I tell you!

NOT!

[Poiuyt]

9. Actually, David Edwards and Andrew Bielak are the authors of the article

not the terror suspects. Your first line reads kind of funny :)

[Kerrytravelers]

11. He knew about it, he ordered it, hell, he masturbated to it.

Ewwwww. :puke:

[Heywood J]

28. Don't forget those Abu Ghraib

rape tapes that Congress got to see and hear about. They probably ARE masturbating to it.

[jannyk]

13. Quelle surprise - not! nt

[The Count]

14. After looking at all the Abu Grahib photos, * said: "Fabulous job, Rummy"

It was on the news. I am sure it's one of his favorite parts of his job, along with making money for his cronies and slandering Democrats/foreign nations

[DIKB]

15. Given the FACT that

Alberto Gonzalez, when acting as WH Counsel, had told * that the Geneva Conventions didn't apply this is as surprising as the sun rising in the morning.

[Straight Shooter]

16. "... the administration's state of secrecy for fear of public retribution."

Ha! What a joke. Fear of retribution. What fear of retribution? Everyone knows bush is involved up to his ugly little teeth in this.

Retribution. Perish the thought. The Kool-Aid drinkers raise a toast to their leader, the archetype of all their own ugly, unChristian, inhumane character flaws.

[TahitiNut]

18. Funny how they confuse the words "retribution" and "justice," isn't it?

:puke: Sure is fair and balanced.

[zulchzulu]

17. Bush is from the Leviticus wing of the Republican Party

He loved torturing puppies when he was a punk kid. So this is nuttin'.

[Diane R]

20. He's a classic sadist. This is no surprise to many of us.

[PerfectSage]

21. You can tell * flunked out of Ethics 101

*'s golden rule: Do unto others as you would not have them do unto you.

[Morgana LaFey]

29. actually, he flunked Humanity 101, not to mention Having a Soul

:hi: Welcome to DU!

[PerfectSage]

31. Not to mention logic 101, critical thinking 101 & leadership 101 etc etc

I do * an A+ in Machiavelli 101, Failure 101, Incompetence 101 and Candy Ass in Chief 101

:hi:

[kestrel91316]

22. Gee, really? No one could have imagined that someone like

GWB would EVER order torture of someone he didn't like...............

Personally, I half expect the guy to issue an executive order that permits HIM to do the torturing.

Oh, and BTW - I am of the opinion that if GWB DID specifically order the torture, he is NO BETTER THAN SADDAM HUSSEIN, and deserves the same fate. Just so we're clear on that.

[mod mom]

23. You know what they say about kids who torture animals (RE young bu$h + frogs).

[Senator]

24. And the DC Dem "Leadership" Is Rubber-Stamping These Horrors...

... thus rendering the US a War Criminal Nation.

Whether this is being done by ommission or commission is hardly relevant to the torture victims -- or to the international laws/treaties that demand Gov't Officials to report/police such crimes. The same goes for any "reason" or rather, rationalization that is currently being use to justify inaction. The reality is that when they were handed the Congressional majority they undertook responsibility, as well as opportunity -- in fact they became "The US Government."

This Euphemedia notion of "co-equal branches" is just a lot of hot air. The phrase "Congress is King" is not just some slogan. They are the ultimate power under The Constitution because they most directly represent the sovereigns -- the American People. They have the unrestrained power to fire (impeach/remove) executive and judicial branch operatives at any time.

Torture is the "ownership" they should be concerned about, not the Iraq debacle. It is by far the worst of the Stolen White House Horrors and that which is doing the most ongoing damage to our once-great nation.

Only Impeachment ... is a substantive ACT against these atrocities. Only it can even begin to Redeem the American People for that which they never provided their consent.

It IS our positive agenda.

It is our ONLY moral, patriotic option.

It is now months overdue.

--

[rasputin1952]

25. If bush represents "Compassionate Conservatism" I have to say...

I don't want to come across a "normal" conservative, musch les a sadistic one...these people have no souls, no accountability and they think they are above the laws of this nationa and basic human dignity.

If there is a hell, they will be so low, Hitler will be looking down and pissing on them.

[Cobalt-60]

30. If there was ever a group treacherous enough

to get a first strike out of me, it's the republicons.

[Atman]

26. If they'd have had wings, he would have pulled them off personally.

If they were frogs, he'd had been swatting 'em over he left field fence.

.

[NastyRiffraff]

27. Remember how Bush was "furious" at Rummy when

the Abu Ghraib pictures came out? It was clear at the time he was angry that the pictures were published, not at the torture itself.

Psycopathology usually starts early, and a very good indicator is torturing animals as a child or youth. Which Bush did.

[tavalon]

32. Surely you jest

:Our Great Leader who never approve of this atrocity! And Blahblahblah........

[GreenZoneLT]

33. News flash: Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor.

Sun Rises in East, Politician Tells Lie.

Kinda sad that the reaction to someone accusing the U.S. president of ordering torture is, "No duh."

[Hubert Flottz]

35. It's what happens with a court appointed pResident.

The people picked a far better man for the job than Bush.

[Hubert Flottz]

34. I have thought Bush ordered it from day one!

I think John Turley is exactly right, about this and everything else Bush has done wrong.

[merh]

37. right wing response

waterboarding isn't torture!

Of course when they say that I remind them that it was so effective in stopping witches in Salem, even if it isn't "torture", it seems to work :sarcasm:

I sometimes wish we could submit all the "it's not torture" folks to the tactics, with their permission of course.

[MsMagnificent]

38. "almost pathological"?

Puh-lease! :puke: