It's entertaining to see Cheney with his 18% approval rating rounding the the talk show circuit making excuses for his crimes and working hard to drive the Republican Party to the extreme wing-nut margins by choosing Rush limbaugh over Colin Powell and calling Powell a Democrat (soon to be Democrat-Socialist per GOPorthodoxy).
But before we on the left embrace the exiled Powell, lets not forget that Powell KNOWINGLY and dutifully lied to the U.N, DIRECTLY paving the way to the Neocon's illegal and very deadly war in Iraq. He's got a long long repentant path to walk before he can redeem himself. And while El Snortbo lies everyday and is in a very real sense directly responsible for the messes our country is in due to conservative dogma run amock, one would be hard pressed to make the case that any one of his lies led DIRECTLY to murder like Cheney's and Powell's.
By the way, here is what Russ Feingold (who is not a documented liar like the three GOPsters above) had to say about the torture memos Cheney wants declasssified to promote his rationalization and war crimes defense in the court of public opinion; "Nothing I have seen — including the two documents to which former Vice President Cheney has repeatedly referred — indicates that the torture techniques authorized by the last administration were necessary, or that they were the best way to get information out of detainees. The former vice president is misleading the American people when he says otherwise."
But speaking of murder, this story http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051103412.html was also reported in Tuesday’s Democracy Now!, so you know it's credible: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/12/headlines
A key witness (and victim) Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi of both the Bu$hites torture and their war promoting lies is conveniently DEAD (supposedly of suicide) in the hands of our new best friend and all around good guy Muhmar Quadaffi of Libya, into whose care our CIA delivered him from their blacksite archapelago. This is HUGE!
Al-Libi was captured by the CIA and when he didn't tell them what they thought he should, they rendered him to Egypt where he was severely tortured (including beatings, waterboarding and mock burial) in our names and on our behalf. To end this torture done at the behest of the Bu$hites, al-Libi agreed to tell his torturers anything they wanted. What they wanted and got was false testimony that Saddam was working with al-Qiada to obtain chemical weapons to kill Americans and that's exactly what they got. This information along with other fabrications was used by Colin Powell and the Neocons to sell the debacle in Iraqle to the American people.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the bu$hites launched their illegal and unconstitutional torture regime to cover their lies and lead us into the quagmire of Iraq from which we cannot (and will not be able to for years) extricate ourselves and which is has now killed tens of thousands (minimum) of innocent people. The ugly truth is coming out and into focus and the more Dick talks the more appearent it becomes what an absolute scumbag he is.
George, Dick, Condi and the rest of the gang are war criminals, plain and simple and they need to be brought to justice before they flee to Uruguay (or is it Paraguay, I forget) like the good little fascists that they are.
