The Media and the Latest 'Torture' Revelations (Mitchell : E&P)

[struggle4progress]

By Greg Mitchell
(October 06, 2007) --

... If you want to believe that torture is justified in the war on terror, fine -- but just call it what it is. Don't make jokes about it, like David Brooks did on the PBS NewsHour last night, when he said listening to Fred Thompson on the stump might violate the Geneva Conventions.

Perhaps the most amazing statement of the week came from White House spokeswoman Dana Perino at a press briefing on Thursday, when she observed that six years after the 9/11 attacks "we are still having a debate to talk about how we should make sure that we treat people, and that we don't torture them. That is quite a testament to this country." So it's a good thing that the country still has to debate whether or not we torture people?

The Times article that blew this wide open held this key paragraph: “Mr. Gonzales approved the legal memorandum on ‘combined effects’ over the objections of James B. Comey, the deputy attorney general, who was leaving his job after bruising clashes with the White House. Disagreeing with what he viewed as the opinion’s overreaching legal reasoning, Mr. Comey told colleagues at the department that they would all be ‘ashamed’ when the world eventually learned of it.” ...

Andrew Sullivan, who now blogs for The Atlantic, and a onetime Bush-backer and war supporter, heads his latest posting with a photo of the president and the title: "War Criminal." ...

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003654922