Well, you have to hand it to President Bush, Tom DeLay, and other right-wing Republican anti-intellectuals: they have driven the ENTIRE American media, intelligentsia, press, and academia into a strange state where America's "best and brightest" have become chattering, nattering nabobs of cowering uselessness, people driven to earn their paychecks coming up with new euphemisms to replace the word "TORTURE."
Of course, some of the proponents of the right-wing Republican agenda fancy themselves as intellectuals, academics, and scholars, for example Ken Lay, Newt Gingrich, Phil Gramm, (all of whom earned PhDs) and Karl Rove, the architect of Bush's stolen electoral 'wins,' who may not have a PhD, but is quite the reader and historical devotee.
Yet scrape the veneer of "Moral Values" and "Honor and Dignity" from these political leaders, and their agenda, and one can say that their bedrock foundation is one of social bullying and political intimidation, of which war, violence, bombs, and now TORTURE are an integral part.
"DETAINEES," "terror suspects," "interrogation," "questioning," "protect detainees from blatant abuses during questioning" - [ NOT! ] - these are the euphemisms by which George W. Bush has written Gestapo-KGB rules of torture into American law, with the complicity and cooperation of the servile American press/media.
<< Bush was able to DIVERT ATTENTION from REPUBLICAN TROUBLES when he first asked for the legislation during a dramatic speech on Sept. 6 in the White House East Room attended by some families of Sept. 11 victims. >>
<< The bill ready for signing would protect detainees from blatant abuses during questioning — such as rape, torture and "cruel and inhuman" treatment — BUT DOES NOT REQUIRE that any of them be granted legal counsel. Also, it specifically bars detainees from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal courts. >>
That is, a detainee could be beaten within an inch of his life, and HAVE NO RECOURSE or avenue for justice. That is, the bill contradicts its own "protections against blatant abuse," which detainees certainly understand, but the cowardly press-media pretends not to.
<< The signing ceremony offered Bush the chance to bask in a legislative victory. About 150 people were invited to the White House for the event, including military officers, members of Congress and members of Bush's cabinet. >>
<< The bill also eliminates some rights common in military and civilian courts. For example, the commission would be allowed to consider HEARSAY EVIDENCE, so long as a judge determined it was reliable. Hearsay is barred from civilian courts. >>
"HEARSAY EVIDENCE"?!! Why doesn't Mr. Bush and his cabal of right-wingers just reinstate the RUNAWAY SLAVE LAW?
Oh... we apologize... with the craven complicity of the American whore press & media, they just have...
(Thanks especially to Arthur Sulzberger and the New York Times, for the new KGB-Gestapo torture bill, which is only the culmination of a decade of lies and relentless press subservience to the right-wing agenda.)
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Bush to sign law on terror suspects
By Nedra Pickler , Associated Press Writer
17 Oct. 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_terrorism;_ylt=AlIqGarRpI8jIE8ejviL5qms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OTB1amhuBHNlYwNtdHM-
WASHINGTON - President Bush is signing into law today new standards expediting interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects, a bill the White House says strengthens his hand in a time of war.
Bush's plan becomes law just six weeks after he acknowledged that the CIA had been secretly interrogating suspected terrorists overseas and pressed Congress to quickly give authority to try them in military commissions.
The bill ready for signing would protect detainees from blatant abuses during questioning — such as rape, torture and "cruel and inhuman" treatment — but does not require that any of them be granted legal counsel. Also, it specifically bars detainees from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal courts.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said that after Bush signs the legislation Tuesday, the government will immediately begin moving toward the goal of prosecuting some of the high-value suspects being held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He expected it would take a month or two to get "things moving toward a trial phase."
"In terms of having trials, for good and obvious reasons, you don't do that overnight," Snow told reporters. "You do have to make sure that the defense is going to be able to do its job properly and the prosecution the same."
The swift implementation of the law is a rare bit of good news for Bush as casualties mount in Iraq in daily violence. Lawmakers are increasingly calling for a change of strategy and political anxieties are jeopardizing Republican's chances of hanging onto control of Congress.
Bush was able to divert attention from Republican troubles when he first asked for the legislation during a dramatic speech on Sept. 6 in the White House East Room attended by some families of Sept. 11 victims.
But the distraction was short-lived as new revelations of Bush's handling of the Iraq war in a book by Bob Woodward raised fresh criticism of his administration. And Republican Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record)'s resignation from Congress after amid revelations of tawdry e-mails sent to former House pages drowned out Bush's terrorism agenda.
The signing ceremony offered Bush the chance to bask in a legislative victory. About 150 people were invited to the White House for the event, including military officers, members of Congress and members of Bush's cabinet.
"President Bush is going to mark this bill signing as a historic moment because it is a law that he knows will be effective in preventing terrorist attacks and keeping Americans safe," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Bush needed the legislation because the Supreme Court in June said the administration's plan for trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law.
The legislation, which sets the rules for court proceedings, applies to those selected by the military for prosecution and leaves mostly unaffected the majority of the 14,000 prisoners in U.S. custody, most of whom are in Iraq.
The Pentagon had previously selected 10 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison to be tried. Bush is expected also to try some or all of the 14 suspects held by the CIA in secret prisons and recently transferred to military custody at Guantanamo — including the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and architects of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
The bill also eliminates some rights common in military and civilian courts. For example, the commission would be allowed to consider hearsay evidence so long as a judge determined it was reliable. Hearsay is barred from civilian courts.
The legislation also says the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts. Snow said Bush would probably eventually issue an executive order that would describe his interpretation.
Many Democrats opposed the legislation because they said it eliminated rights of defendants considered fundamental to American values, such as a person's ability to go to court to protest their detention and the use of coerced testimony as evidence.
Earlier this year, an anti-torture panel at the United Nations recommended the closure of Guantanamo and criticized alleged U.S. use of secret prisons and suspected delivery of prisoners to foreign countries for questioning.
The legislation nonetheless won overwhelming approval in the House and Senate.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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