The Torture President Wields His Veto

[L. Coyote]

The Torture President Wields His Veto
Scott Horton - Jan4, 2008 - http://harpers.org/archive/2008/01/hbc-90002092


President George W. Bush got through his first term without a veto, but now he’s learning to make use of the power the Constitution gives him to veto legislation. Nothing surprising there. But the last veto victim is something of a surprise. Bush vetoed the 2007 Defense Authorizations Act and now he’s rushing Congress back to deal with it.

Why? We all remember those pesky Democrats were threatening timetables, measures against permanent bases and a number of other pieces that drew the White House’s ire. But then, the Democrats folded on everything. They are, after all, “White Flag Democrats.” That’s a point on which their Republican critics, and the overwhelming majority of the U.S. electorate, which wants an end to the war, agree.

So what on earth caused Bush to veto the bill, and thus leave those in Iraq in connection with the war effort without funds in the pipeline? The answer is torture. You should have guessed it.

A number of American veterans who fought in the First Gulf War brought suit against Iraq to be compensated. They all had something in common. They had been captured by Saddam Hussein and had been subjected to torture. They wanted to be compensated from Iraqi Government assets. Senator Frank Lautenberg tried to give them a leg up. He attached an amendment to the defense bill that would allow victims to sue “state sponsors of terrorism” accused of torture. Like Saddam Hussein’s regime. At the time the amendment went up, not a peep was to be heard from the White House. Now, after it was enacted, they say this justifies a veto. .......

[damntexdem]

1. Defending Saddam Hussein's actions.

;-)

[L. Coyote]

2. What with actual WMDs, is Bush more like Saddam than Saddam?

[midnight]

3. The torturer is a more befitting title than the decider.

[L. Coyote]

4. "Didn't Bush argue that one reason Saddam Hussein needed to be toppled was that he tortured ..."

Editorial | Torture Lawsuit
Contorting truth
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080103_Editorial___Torture_Lawsuit.html

President Bush's refusal to sign a defense spending bill, in part because it might bolster a lawsuit filed by U.S. soldiers tortured in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, reeks of hypocrisy.

It's just the president's latest sleight-of-hand trick when it comes to Iraq.

Bush rushed to the current war based, at best, on flawed intelligence. At worst, the public was misled about Iraq's possession of nuclear weapons.

Shortly after the March 2003 invasion, Bush made his infamous fighter-jet landing on a carrier and made his "Mission Accomplished" speech. Almost five years later, the war drags on, having cost almost 4,000 soldiers' lives and $10 billion a month in tax dollars.

Progress of late is partly credited to Bush's "surge." But this is the same guy who four years ago insisted that troop levels were adequate when then Army chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki was arguing that many more soldiers were needed to succeed.

Now Bush's veto of a defense authorization measure has served to block efforts by 17 former U.S. soldiers seeking justice from Iraq for past torture.

Didn't Bush argue that one reason Saddam Hussein needed to be toppled was that he tortured his own people? ......

[Radio_Lady]

5. Wow. K & R. Thanks for posting this. What a fascinating turn of events...

I might have missed it without your drawing attention to it.

[texastoast]

6. Please refer to the chimp as George Waterboard Bush.

The W is for Waterboard.

And all you freep trolls need to know that you are no better than those Germans who supported Hitler if you still support shrubito.

[L. Coyote]

7. Yes Sir Officer Toast! I was doing that some weeks ago, and became lax. I apologize

officer and will not be so negligent again. LOL

[salin]

9. How about we just shorten it to "Waterboard"

as in "so Waterboard just came out in support of torture, again!"

[Naturyl]

8. He can't do anything to repudiate torture because he's guilty of it

It's all about keeping the heat off his own ass.