THE BUSH YEARS: OUTRAGE AFTER OUTRAGE, AFTER OUTRAGE

[Guest guest]

The Bush Years: Outrage,

After Outrage, After Outrage

Asked to name the Outrage of the Week,

how could anyone possibly choose?

By Molly Ivins

Creators Syndicate

10-14-5

 

AUSTIN, Texas -- On one of those television gong shows that passes

for journalism, the panelists used to have to pick an Outrage of the

Week. Then, each performer would wax indignant about his or her

choice for 60 seconds or so. If someone asked me to name the Outrage

of the Week about now, I'd have a coronary. How could anyone possibly

choose?

 

I suppose the frontrunner is the anti-torture amendment. Sen. John

McCain (R-Ariz.) proposed an amendment to the defense appropriations

bill that would prohibit " cruel, inhuman or degrading " treatment of

prisoners in the custody of the U.S. military.

 

This may strike you as a " goes without saying " proposition--the

amendment passed the Senate 90 to 9. The United States has been

signing anti-torture treaties under Democrats and Republicans for at

least 50 years. But the Bush administration actually managed to find

some weasel words to create a loophole in this longstanding

commitment to civilized behavior.

 

According to the Bushies, if the United States is holding a prisoner

on foreign soil, our soldiers can still subject him or her to cruel,

inhuman and degrading treatment--the very forms of torture used by

the soldiers who were later prosecuted for their conduct at Abu

Ghraib. Does this make any sense, moral or common?

 

So deeply does President Bush feel our country, despite all its

treaty commitments, has a right to torture that he has threatened to

veto the bill if it passes. This would be the first time in five

years he has ever vetoed anything. Think about it: Five years of

stupefying pork, ideological nonsense, dumb administrative ideas,

fiscal idiocy, misbegotten energy programs--and the first thing the

man vetoes is a bill to pay our soldiers because it carries an

amendment saying, once again, that this country does not torture

prisoners.

 

This is the United States of America. It is our country, not George

W. Bush's personal property. The United States of America still

stands for the rights of man, for freedom, dignity and justice. We do

not torture helpless prisoners. Our soldiers are not the Nazi Waffen

SS, not the North Vietnamese who tortured McCain and others for years

on end, not bestial Argentinean fascists, not the Khmer Rouge.

 

Remember, we invaded Iraq because Saddam Hussein was such a horrible

brute that he tortured people. This is beyond disgusting. The House

Republicans, who have no shame, will try to weaken McCain's

amendment. They need to hear from decent Republicans all over this

country. Don't leave this hideous stain on your party's name. This is

not what America stands for. We've had more loathsome and more

dangerous enemies than Al Qaeda and managed to defeat them without

resorting to torture.

 

And leading the charge in the House will be Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas),

that pillar of moral rectitude and Christian mercy. Wait a minute:

Didn't DeLay have to step down from his leadership position after he

got indicted? Well, yes, but some step-downs are more down than

others. There was " The Hammer " in full glory Friday, twisting arms

and working the floor on behalf of a real cutie of a bill to benefit

the oil companies.

 

Even Republicans revolted. As Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.)

said, " We are enriching people, but we are not doing anything to give

the little guy a break. " I have become inured to Bush's idea of

foreign policy. But the policy does result in some lovely ironies. On

Friday, Mohamed ElBaradei, the highly respected head of the UN's

International Atomic Energy Agency, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Quite

apart from whether you support Bush or not, ElBaradei and the IAEA

deserve the honor--they have been both diligent and effective.

 

ElBaradei was right when he repeatedly warned the Bush administration

that Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction and has said

the day the United States invaded " was the saddest in my life. "

 

But you know our boy George: not for him the gracious, " Gee, you were

right, and we were wrong after all. " Nope, after ElBaradei was proved

right, Bush tried to have him fired. And the man in charge of

carrying out the campaign to have the guy fired for being right? John

Bolton, now our ambassador to the United Nations.

 

Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Austin, Texas