Sunday, March 09, 2008

Bush's Veto

Our Dear Leader, Kim Jong Bush, has flourished his mighty veto pen and struck down the bill banning waterboarding as a means of interrogating people. He defended his stance by saying that we don't want to deny our intelligence agencies access to any technique that might be effective against Terrorists.

One minor problem with that, Georgie.

Waterboarding (or simulated drowning) is banned by solemn international horsefeathers like the Geneva Conventions, a treaty that, like all treaties approved by the Senate and signed by the President, have the force of Federal law in this country. If I recall correctly, we hanged some Japanese officers after the War for doing it to our brave lads in uniform.

Which brings up another topic.

Suppose one of our troops gets taken prisoner. We will naturally screech that whoever's taken the soldier better damned well abide by the Geneva Conventions. But what's to stop them from torturing this American, including waterboarding? All they'll have to do in response to our screeching is to say, "But your President says it's legal for you to do it. What's sauce for the goose, you idiots," and cheerfully attach electrodes to the soldier's naughty bits for emphasis.

No wonder the generals don't like the idea. But Bush loves it - other people (outside his immediate circle) are probably beneath his notice, just a nameless, faceless mass to be seduced, frightened or blown up to his advantage.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home