Don't Let the Pelosi Kerfuffle Distract You from the Architects of Torture and Murder: Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

By Mark Karlin

Okay, the diversionary distraction -- so a crime or escape from prison can be committed -- is one of the oldest Hollywood film cliches.

You know, let's say two guys are planning to break out of prison by jumping a fence and hiding in a hamper in the outgoing laundry truck.  So they get a couple of other inmates to start a fight and draw the attention of all the guards.  That way the escaping jailbirds won't be noticed.

That's exactly what Dick Cheney and his family are doing -- assisted by torture loyalists in the CIA and military who fear that they could be prosecuted too.  BuzzFlash -- and the Washington Post, among other newspapers -- long ago reported that a few top Dems in Congress had been vaguely told about the CIA's "harsh interrogation" (but were kept by law from leaking the classified information).  They were even told about warrantless wiretapping.

But so what; their hands were tied because they couldn't tell anyone about what they had heard (and you can be sure that what they heard was watered down from torture and murder) -- and they weren't the ones who engineered the crimes: Cheney masterminded them on the CIA side and Rumsfeld on the Pentagon side.  Dumbo Bush signed off on the torture (which in an estimated 25-200 cases led to murder) because he likes to think that he's a tough guy and he has gotten a thrill running up and down his legs about authorizing violence since he set the record for executions as Governor of Texas.

The Republicans are chronically good at throwing a glass against the wall, and as eyes shift toward the crashing sound stealing the money off the table. Deception is second nature to them.

So let's not hear all this hand-wringing over Nancy Pelosi.  Yes, she was probably told something rather euphemestic about the CIA's actions to "prevent another terrorist attack."  But she's just a bystander to the war crimes.  Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush were driving the bus of war, torture and murder.

No prison break Hollywood "B" movie distraction should allow the three torture and murder amigos to sneak out the back door while we quibble about Pelosi, who actually runs a pretty tight ship in the House (compared to Reid's lack of party discipline in the Senate).

We know who the criminals are; we know enough about the crimes (but will learn more if Cheney's Torture Pushback Tour fails).

Let's get on with the War Crimes indictments, not to mention prosecution for misleading America into a ruinous war.

BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG