Face of Evil for Full Public Edification — I Give You Dark Dick

Dark Dick in Charge of the Torture Chamber

Pop Quiz for Dark Dick Supporters

(I assume there are plenty in the FOX viewing audience)

The caricatures of Mr. Chaney are cute and yes, even funny, but the subject of torture and the documented U.S. policy for its implementation is pretty ugly. The “leader” of that pack is former VP Richard Bruce Cheney, the same man who once said: “We will have to operate in the dark shadows....”

Note for Mr. Cheney: Torture chambers are also dark, sir, and you are flat out wrong on this subject. The evidence supporting that fact far outweighs your weak-ass assumption as reflected in this update and the many posts on this subject posted below.

This update comes from here in this introduction: Former Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to students at American University Thursday night, and one of the issues he addressed was torture and whether such enhanced interrogation techniques were helpful. Cheney dismissed concerns over such tactics and said that in retrospect, he completely stands by taking those actions. In a pre-speech interview with ATV, Cheney said, “Some people called it torture. It wasn’t torture.” During his speech, The Eagle reports, Cheney professed that he has no regrets (primarily about "water boarding" and yes, it is torture and has been for decades).

Let me reset the clock on the facts: Regarding Torture ref U.S. Law: 18 U.S. CODE CHAPTER 113C: TORTURE

§ 2340. Definitions

§ 2340A. Torture

§ 2340B. Exclusive remedies

In the case of Bush-Cheney who happened to not like that definition, decided to have it changed to fit what they wanted it to be called: “enhanced interrogation.” That is a term that any savvy professional, experienced, and honest interrogator will tell “does  not exist” – it’s torture, plain and simple. So, what did the Bush-Cheney team do?

They got John Yoo and Jay Bybee and a few others in the OLC and at Justice to write a new memo – a secret memo at that – which redefined they way they wanted it defined. The Justice Department memo then expanded the definition of “torture” on December 4, 2004, this way: 

This cite comes from the JURIST: The Justice Department posted on its website a revised and expanded interpretation of criminal “torture” under the US Code – see cited above and just a week before White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, who oversaw the development of a narrower interpretation articulated in a controversial August 2002 memo was due to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee as President Bush's nominee for Attorney General.

The old interpretation of torture punishable by law had been largely limited to acts causing severe pain leading to “organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death,” and had been blamed for a permissive approach to interrogation procedures leading to prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib and other U.S. facilities. This memorandum, insists that “torture is abhorrent both to American laws and values and to international norms” and that President Bush had directed that American personnel not engage in torture, is significantly more expansive in keeping with international standards, especially the UN Convention Against Torture.

While indicating that torture is not associated with “mild and transitory” acts, it acknowledges that it need not always involve severe physical pain. The Washington Post has more (here) on that. Key in that piece answer the question: “Why did the Bush administration feel a new memo was needed to set the record straight?” 

What do military experts say about torture not working? Take a look here.

Bottom line: Cheney and those like him are wrong and yes, they are war criminals. If we were looking at other countries this way, and BTW, we have, our leaders would be demanding justice — so why are we so hypocritical now?

This is a very ugly stain on the country, and Dick Cheney just put another coat of bright red paint on it once again.