George W. Bush's self-subjection to "non-torture"
George W. Bush has now flatly declared, “This government does not torture people.”
There are several ways to respond to the president.
This president and his government are, metaphorically at the least, torturing America. He and his administration are torturing our Constitution, twisting it beyond recognition.
But to be fair, the president doesn’t mean “torture” in that way. He means literal torture — inflicting extreme physical and mental pain and anguish on prisoners as punishment or as coercion.
Extreme pain and anguish is what torture victims feel and experience.
In order for the president to understand whether his government is truly torturing people, he might voluntarily step outside his presidential bubble and subject himself to whatever American agents are doing to, or ordering to be done to, prisoners here and abroad.
This should be no idle, purposeless exercise. Since the start of the Bush administration, the American people, through Congress, have demanded and been denied information from George W. Bush about the workings of our government under his administration.
So we might use his voluntary submission to “severe interrogation” to extract it. Presumably, if the methods used aren’t coercive and punishing. he will remain steadfast in his silence.
What sort of interrogation will it take to find the truth about the make-up of his and Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force back in 2001, about whether those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were utter fabrications from the outset, about the administration’s denial of scientific evidence and utter refusal to acknowledge global warming, about rigging voting in Florida in 2000, about suppressing the vote in Ohio in 2004 ….
In the course of the “severe” interrogation, the inquisitors might ask whether the president really, truly his administration does not torture.
Further, let the president’s “non-torturing” be conducted in public and be televised. Commercial space might be sold to help pay off our war debts (anything to protect those tax cuts for the rich.)
With a huge, world-wide audience attracted to the broadcast, the ad revenues should be in the millions, possibly billions. DVD sales would add more millions to the total.
When the president’s experience of this non-torture is over and he’s had a chance to shower, get caught up on his sleep, change his clothes, and recuperate at the ranch, he should be asked again about whether his government tortures.
Because the people of the world will have witnessed his experience, they can decide for themselves whether he is telling the truth.
There are several ways to respond to the president.
This president and his government are, metaphorically at the least, torturing America. He and his administration are torturing our Constitution, twisting it beyond recognition.
But to be fair, the president doesn’t mean “torture” in that way. He means literal torture — inflicting extreme physical and mental pain and anguish on prisoners as punishment or as coercion.
Extreme pain and anguish is what torture victims feel and experience.
In order for the president to understand whether his government is truly torturing people, he might voluntarily step outside his presidential bubble and subject himself to whatever American agents are doing to, or ordering to be done to, prisoners here and abroad.
This should be no idle, purposeless exercise. Since the start of the Bush administration, the American people, through Congress, have demanded and been denied information from George W. Bush about the workings of our government under his administration.
So we might use his voluntary submission to “severe interrogation” to extract it. Presumably, if the methods used aren’t coercive and punishing. he will remain steadfast in his silence.
What sort of interrogation will it take to find the truth about the make-up of his and Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force back in 2001, about whether those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were utter fabrications from the outset, about the administration’s denial of scientific evidence and utter refusal to acknowledge global warming, about rigging voting in Florida in 2000, about suppressing the vote in Ohio in 2004 ….
In the course of the “severe” interrogation, the inquisitors might ask whether the president really, truly his administration does not torture.
Further, let the president’s “non-torturing” be conducted in public and be televised. Commercial space might be sold to help pay off our war debts (anything to protect those tax cuts for the rich.)
With a huge, world-wide audience attracted to the broadcast, the ad revenues should be in the millions, possibly billions. DVD sales would add more millions to the total.
When the president’s experience of this non-torture is over and he’s had a chance to shower, get caught up on his sleep, change his clothes, and recuperate at the ranch, he should be asked again about whether his government tortures.
Because the people of the world will have witnessed his experience, they can decide for themselves whether he is telling the truth.
Labels: George W. Bush, torture
posted by Rick Seifert at
10:20 PM
4 Comments:
"Torturing the Constitution" should be grounds for impeachment, don't you think?
Apparently many readers of the Oregonian, based on today's letters- to-the-editor count, agree with me that Congress should open hearings on the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney.
What do you think, Rick?
For my views on impeachment you could go three earlier posts. The most succinct is at http://theredelectric.blogspot.com/2007/08/president-as-quagmire.html
Have you read "The Man Who Sold the War" by James Bamford? It was originally published in Rolling Stone, and later included in ASME's 2006 Best Of Compilation. A very interesting read about the truth of WMDs and the basis on which we went to war, as well as the process of making it acceptable to the American public. In addition to being informative, it seems legitimate, and is well-written.
Good on ya, Rick.
Of course the Dems would argue that we "drain the swamp" by electing a Democrat President, not through the messy process of impeachment.
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