Tortured Logic

My grief lies all within,
And these external manners of lament
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief
That swells with silence in the tortured soul.

- W.S.

Call me crazy -- better yet, call me an American -- but
I can’t help thinking that this country is more than a little
fucked up when the President of the United States has
to explicitly announce, "We do not torture."

If that’s true Mr. President (despite plenty of
contradicting evidence, like this) maybe you should
remind your vice-president. This is one memo he
doesn’t seem to have gotten.

Just last week, Cheney showed up at a Republican
senatorial luncheon to lobby lawmakers for a CIA
exemption to an amendment by Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) that would ban torture and inhumane
treatment of prisoners. The exemption would cover
the CIA's covert "black sites" in several Eastern
European democracies and other countries where
key al Qaeda captives are being kept.

Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt declined to
comment on the vice president's interventions or to
elaborate on his positions. "The vice president's
views are certainly reflected in the administration's
policy," he said.

Eric Alterman adds:

(And don’t forget, they still haven’t released the
worst photos from Abu Ghraib.)  It’s sick and
disgusting and it's Bush Administration policy. 
I’ve said it before and I fear I have to say it
again.  If you support Bush, you support
torture.  Deal with it.