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Disclosure of torture memo fails to grab traditional media's attention

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Jason Linkins - - What if they disclosed a torture memo and nobody cared? This week, an 81-page memo, authored by John C. Yoo, who was a deputy in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice at the time of its creation, was declassified and made public. The memo, which, among other things, was used as the rationale for authorizing the torture of government detainees, has long been held to be a savage reimagining of the structure of the Executive Branch and its authority, hostile to the traditional checks and balances that circumscribe the President's authority. And that's stating the matter diplomatically. A less kind observer might conclude that the memo was a legal abomination which tortures the accepted body of Constitutional law along the way to glibly authorizing a Grand Guignol of authoritarian power that our nation's founders would find abhorrent. With these high stakes as the prologue, you'd have to imagine that the disclosure of the memo would be of pre-eminent importance to the media.
Chique

34 responses // Disclosure of torture memo fails to grab traditional media's attention

  • It is seen for what it is here and all over where people who seek insight will find it.
    1Eco_Media
  • Why has this man (Bush) and all his cronies not been purp walked out of office yet???
    eldamon
  • Excellent question, please ask Nancy Pelosi.
    Chique
  • this is ridiculous. aren't all men created equal? and if someone tortured a US citizen, omg it would be the end of the world - remember kiki camarena? and yet we do it all the time to iraqis... like they don't matter... and some congressmen say that torture isn't necessarily "cruel and unusual punishment" and they don't think that waterboarding is torture... it's drowning! it's inhumane! how can it not be torture?
    Lajaconde345
  • http://current.com/items/88888141_lawyer_who_exposed_ab...
    There is an article in Salon.com about the lawyer who tried to expose the abuses occuring at GitMo. He was jailed and may eventually lose his law license.

    In my commentary of that article I wondered why it was so critically important to Bush that these people he's captured not be subject to traditional legal due process and, more importantly, why was he so obsessed with torturing them?

    The only conclusion I could come to was that Bush didn't care about prosecuting ACTUAL terrorists or obtaining ACTUAL intelligence necessary to our national defense. I believe this because nothing Bush did at GitMo supported those goals. I believe Bush had an altogether different motivation for the Iraqi's at GitMo.

    Bush was angry after 9/11. Very, very angry.

    So angry that he wanted to hurt those brown skinned "sinners" that lived in a foreign country and didn't worship Jesus like he did.

    I believe (and this is just armchair psychology) that Bush's goal for GitMo was payback. He wanted to hurt'em. If they were actually guilty of anything or not didn't matter. In Bush's mind just being non-Christians and Iraqi made them guilty of something.

    GitMo wasn't about furthering national security objective. It was about revenge for 9/11.
    crob80227
  • http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/InfiltratingThe...
    I was on a message board last year and someone who claimed to be a former guard at GitMo (who knows?) told us about a conversation he had with the base commander that (if true) made my blood run cold.

    He said that he was given almost no direction on how to handle the detainees. There was no real overall standing orders on what to do with them, except that he was supposed to question a certain number of them under his supervision every week.

    This was all to vague for him so he went to his commanding officer and asked, "What exactly should I be asking them?" The commander shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter. Just make sure they understand."

    "Understand what?" the guard asked.

    "That they shouldn't fuck with a Righteous nation!" came the reply.

    I don't know if that's true -- but given the disturbing amount of evidence that has come to light about the Dominionist sect inflitrating the military, I'm inclined to believe it.

    Bush might truly believe God wants him to make the "sinners" suffer -- but he's got a lot of like-minded supporters within the military who, apparently, believe the exact same thing.
    crob80227
  • Yeah. So who owns these big Mega
    Stations and magazines? But I'm sure who has the money doesn't make a difference though, right? Money has no sway over the media; they're all fair and balanced.

    I thought so.
    ILiveonaClock
  • probably off topic...but someone said "Gitmo"

    ...a lot of the men and women over in Gitmo working with the detainees are in it for the cash. do you know that the first $80K they make is tax free?? $80K tax free!!!!!!!! free housing. everything is dirt cheap. the jamaican and asian workers there don't care that they get paid crap. (not even american minimum wage)
    the service wo/men truly believe that what they are doing there is for us (americans)...you can't tell them otherwise. most of them aren't leaders, but true followers. a girl i used to know is there now and like her fellow service wo/men, she's in it for the money. and they say civilians have no morals. ::shakes head::
    contingent_reality
  • All of this is pathetic and embarrassing for the United States. Defining nobody - the media because corporations running them have their own agendas; the attorneys trying to help get railroaded to avoid the publicity; the American people speaking out to the Bush administration sound like a collective group of Charlie Brown's parents; and when we scream at our representatives but they're too afraid of taking a stand or losing a vote they are spineless. Getting reports like this out to as many people as we can is partly the solution. I firmly believe most American's don't have an inkling of a fraction of the abuses perpetrated by this administration.
    Chique
  • I noticed Olbermann covered it fairly well and with outrageous indignation. The rest of the media seem to be cow-towing to Bush's bully tactics in keeping his abuses, crimes, etc under wraps. Wonder of they ever feel guilty about that? Guess all this election nonsense is more important....especially now that Billary's tax returns are out and OH MY it looks as if they are gazillionnaires and not working stiffs like us afterall...guess that's why they kept the returns under wraps until after the primaries in states where that would matter. That way they could go on pretending to "feel our pain."
    barkway
  • 1.) Lock up Bush and Cheney.

    2.) Throw away the key.

    3.) Issue monetary compensation to individuals and families victimized.

    4.) Issue formal apology to the world.

    _______

    5.) Reinstate Gladiator touraments.

    6.) Release Bush and Cheney into the ring with hungry polar bears.
    stephenthomson
  • Chique

    CORRECT. RIGHT ON.

    barkway

    Olbermann does get it as do some of the others.
    Not all corporations or the people that work for them are bad.

    HRC and many Corp Dems are out for themselves.

    Far better than the WE THE CORPORATION Crowd however.

    What we need is PEOPLE DEMS and that means teaching the people the difference.

    Just look to the bankruptcy bill to see who is who.
    1Eco_Media
  • http://www.lewrockwell.com/reed/BushCheer.jpg
    good plan, stephenthompson... until #6... even the mightiest polar bear would surely melt in fear in the presence of the sheer virility of our Commander-In-Chief
    ArtisGilmoreHOF
  • watch this comment being used here
    It makes me sad that every excuse the leaders of my country use to convince us to approve pressing "National interests" Like Weapons of Mass Destruction and torture, are all things that these hypocrites use as well. The only times I have had faith in my country, is when our president has been articulate enough to lie like a movie star. At least then it's easier to pay attention to my kids & my garden & all things local. It's hard to be proud of ourselves when our chief can't explain why we should be.
    JTizzo
  • The media obviously will not make this widely known, since they are all owned by the big businesses that run this government. Our "fourth" branch of government once again fails the people of this country again.
    natenate
  • the media has been failing us for years. the sheer number of things they haven't bothered to report and the number of questions they have allowed this administration to get away with not answering are staggering.

    where oh where are the intrepid washington reporters when we need them?
    chasmheart
  • everything this administration has done has had crafty PR to pull it off the 'real public opinion radar'. i often think about how many real crimes one has to commit to be convicted and the bush administration has pushed that envelope so far off the table that it has dissapeared. i stack this next to clinton's intern mishap and realize that bush has had a 1,485 interns that he has both abused and covered up in the oval office without a spector of ken starr rooting in with his lawyer nepotism to expose the ills. each successive headline of another atrocity to our american fabric is just another leap to wonder how it will be quickly covered up with the least dust left behind.
    jdimino
  • Here is a link to download Part 1 of the Toture Memo.
    http://gulcfac.typepad.com/georgetown_university_law/fi...
    ThomasGreen
  • Here is the link to Part 2 of the Torture Memo
    http://gulcfac.typepad.com/georgetown_university_law/fi...
    ThomasGreen
  • watch this comment being used here, here, here, here, here, and here
    Traditional media is what put Bush and his band of theives in office.

    That is why I like Current sooooooooooooooo much.

    Torture is condoned by the insane. It makes me wonder why the United States of America would support an insane president.
    SNJ
    • SNJ
    • 6 months ago
  • Thanks ThomasGreen. Maybe we should send copies of this Torture Memo to our local newspapers, our congress and senate representatives and ask them to respond.
    Chique
  • No Problem Chique, My Current News Team just cut a module of this story that aired in the U.S. and we are about to air and updated version in UK in about 20 minutes. For contributing on getting important news out that people should know about. We hope you dig the news pegs we cut cut and that we are pronouncing your name right with our robot.

    all the best

    tom
    ThomasGreen
  • I hang my head with shame. It makes you wonder what is happening to America? What is happening to us, the people? So it's not just our gov't that's f*cked up, it's our media too?

    I would expect for them not to speak badly or criticize the dumb asses up in office, but to not repost or tell us about this memo is just....UGH! At least a summary as the fracken thing is 81 pages full of fun legal terms that shadow what it really means. Torture!

    I'm just so disappointed. Everyday now it seems we get stories like this, and everyday my patriotism seems to diminish. Oops, maybe they'll throw me in jail for that last one!
    MornRail
  • Thanks again ThomasGreen and Current! You guys are awesome.

    (Yes, it's pronounced "Cheek". Chosen because Chiquita was my extremely loved chihuahua that gave me 20 years of unconditional love.)
    Chique
  • "revelation of the method" check it out, go ahead google it, you'll really get scared.
    jdmlist
  • The Bush Administration has achieved the desired level of apathy in the US, otherwise they would have waited another 7 years or so to make the release. The level of apathy is pathetic. Sorry, couldn't help it.

    There's the human level of torturing the "insurgents"; it is deplorable. The U.S. soldiers' level of torture; U.S. soldiers are perhaps %1000 more likely to be tortured to death, if caught. The Bush Administration does NOT support U.S. troops in any way, sort, or fashion.
    sitdownboycottswork
  • I'm fed up with an administration who, when confronted by laws that hamper or hinder, manipulate the words of law to suit their needs and not lose any sleep over it. The (alleged) President and his loyal brood are not above the law, yet they seem to be damned good at dancing around it. That photo of Cheney as a shadowy figure looming in the background speaks volumes.
    huntre
  • Bottom line is most Americans don't care. They just want to drive their hummers and suvs and watch TV. The people that take the time to read these articles already know about the many reforms that need to be made to our system.
    jamesphilb
  • Most Americans are too worried about losing their jobs or pay their unitility bills - our heating bill when from $200 to $600 last month - and we have a small house and conserve.

    It's sad, but I'm not surprised at anything this adminstration gets away with.
    patsarts
  • How can I tell my kids the United States doesn't torture? They've seen the pictures, hundreds of snapshots of our soldiers humiliating other human beings. The whole world has seen the pictures.
    Now, we see the Bush government legalizing torture. This does not make Americans safer.
    Torture forces false confessions and gets useless information, and as Dr. King said, " violence never brings permanent peace..."
    The dehumanizing behavior of tortuing people diminishes everyone.
    Dr. King's words reverberate with even more urgency today. He said, "Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."
    The Bush administration has stained the honor of all Americans.
    But it is never to late to change course.
    Dr. King also said unconditional love, the love at the center of all religions would win out in the end. and, "Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it."
    Peace is not only the goal, it is also the way.
    TouchArt
  • http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o124/TouchArt/Art%20...
    "Commander in Chief" by Charleen Touchette 2004
    TouchArt
  • I think we should all do what Chiuqe (Forgive me if I spelled that incorrectly) suggested and sent it to our representative and ask for a response. I know I'm gonna do it, even if he doesn't respond, at least I made my point.
    TheRemedy_181
  • i hate to sound like a cynic. but i think this will change nothing, it will continue.
    jharris815
  • http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o124/TouchArt/Art%20...
    It will stop if the American people stand up and say no to war. It took a long time for the anti-war movement during Viet Nam to get going and for the masses of people to act. A big factor was the fact that we saw American soldiers in flag-draped caskets being loaded onto transport planes.
    Americans need to see the real cost of this war and stop it.
    TouchArt