Dick Cheney Rebuked By REPUBLICANS Colin Powell and General Petraeus

I have been very outspoken about my disgust for former Vice President Cheney's disgraceful conduct since he was rolled out of the White House in a wheelchair as one of the most unpopular politician's in our history. Lacking any evidence whatsoever, he has continually leveled the charge against President Barack Obama that he has made the United States "less safe." In fact, virtually all of the evidence points to the contrary. There has been no 9/11 on President Obama's watch. Increased cooperation with other countries has led to major successes, drone strikes have been dramatically increased in Pakistan, and numerous plots have been disrupted in the past year here in the U.S. Cheney's one discredited point seems to be that illegal torture methods are no longer employed and therefore we are less safe. Again, the experts agree with virtual unanamity that higher quality intelligence is gathered through proven, professional interrogation methods and not toruture. A flood of recent cases including the "underwear" bomber and Najibullah Zazi (who had plotted to blow up the New York City subway system) show that reams of intelligence were gained without torture and by using the professionals in our criminal justice system.

It was nice to finally see two of the most popular Republicans condemn Cheney's nonsense. Petraeus has actually publicly disagreed with Cheney before stating that "It is hugely significant to us to live the values that we hold so dear and that we have fought so hard to protect over the years." Being that both David Petraeus and Colin Powell are or were Generals, I think they might have just a little bit more credibility on this issue than the former Vice President. The obvious attempt by Cheney and his daughter to undercut the current President of the United States with unsupported, universally discredited, self-serving talking points may make good theater for the far right-wing fringe, but it is beyond shameful. I applaud both Powell and Petraeus for strongly backing President Obama's highly-effective, pro-American anti-terrorism strategies. I would like to see many more Republicans speak out on this issue which should be above the partisan fray, but I am not holding my breath. Watch Powell's scathing rebuke of Cheney's factless charges in the video above. In addition he lays out the FACTS about military commissions.

Latest Republican "False Outrage" - Nancy Pelosi

Let me see if I understand this correctly. No outrage from the right-wing about torture, outing an undercover CIA agent, politicizing the Justice Department, Hurricane Katrina, record budget deficits, crumbling infrastructure, and destroying the economy in less than 8 years. BUT if there is any possibility that Nancy Pelosi may have been briefed by the CIA about waterboarding then it is the crime of the century. Or is the crime of the century Obama shaking hands with Chavez, or ordering a hamburger with mustard, or using a teleprompter. This transparent "false outrage" tactic in order to deflect attention from real news is getting old fast.

I am actually not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi primarily because she took impeachment off the table at a time when the facts were screaming out for impeachment of President Bush due to his clear violations of federal law and the Constitution (warrantless wiretapping, torture, etc.). And it really doesn't matter to me whether she gets burned by this issue or not. If investigations and criminal prosecutions of torture cause political damage to some democrats in Congress, then so be it. As I have said on many occasions I am for holding anybody accountable for ordering torture whether they be in a Democratic or Republican Administration. It is not a political issue for me. It goes way beyond that.

For at least a short period of time the mounting evidence that Dick Cheney was suggesting that an Iraqi detainee be waterboarded in order to try to establish a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq gets pushed completely to the side as the media focuses exclusively on the relatively insignificant sideshow of Nancy Pelosi. I have got to give the right-wing credit for their effective "divert attention from Bush/Cheney complicity at all costs" campaign.

At this time it is not clear what was really said in those briefings. There were caveats in Panetta's response which were largely overlooked by the media and Bob Graham's statements cast a lot of doubt on the credibility of the CIA's briefing dates, etc. I will withhold judgment until I see clear evidence one way or the other. But this in no way affects the overwhelming case mounting against high-ranking Bush Administration officials. Let the chips fall where they may.

Torture Apologists Are The Worst Kind Of Americans

Torture apologists comprise approximately half of the U.S. population according to a recent poll. I wonder if these people ever had a civics class or know anything about the history of the United States. I have a feeling that a large percentage of these apologists are republicans and a large subset are the same ones that will defend ANYTHING a republican administration does and try to sell a rationale for it, no matter how preposterous it is.

Their arguments fall apart on every level. Here is my summary of why the United States does not torture (at least until we had a rogue presidency):

What has always separated us from many other countries in the world is our unwavering respect for human rights, the rule of law, and our basic humanity. It has NEVER been demonstrated that the information received from torture is better than other PROVEN, LEGAL methods. In fact, there is overwhelming evidence that it yields far inferior results and produces a lot of completely false information. Chasing down these false leads wastes valuable intelligence assets which could be used on real, accurate leads.

If you support the United States using torture then you, by default, also support "open season" on our troops when they are captured by other countries. You MUST remain silent and you have NO right to protest as their heads are slammed into walls, they are waterboarded 200 times a month, and are deprived of sleep for 11 days at a time with their hands shackled above their heads. The military understands this and for this reason they are opposed to the U.S. using these illegal methods. Don't say you "support the troops" if you support torture because you really don't support the troops.

We are signatories to international agreements which outlaw these practices. We have prosecuted others for using the exact same methods approved by President Bush. And here is an exact quote from President Bush in 2003:

"The United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment."
Click here for the link to the article in the Washington Post.

How can a man who stood up and said this in front of the world go on to approve the use of torture? I say we follow HIS WORDS by investigating and prosecuting all acts of torture.