by Nomad
When President Obama admitted that the CIA had, in the years after 9/11, committed torture, Liz Cheney, daughter of the former vice-president blasted the president, calling him an "utter disgrace." The interrogators, she said, were "patriots" and "heroes."
She failed to understand that the torture debate wasn't a matter of patriotism. It was a question of American values and what America stands for.
The Unseen Trap
In itself it was a fairly obvious thing to say. Last Friday, President Obama admitted that the CIA had committed torture. But what was surprising was his use of the pronoun "we."
After handing over a report to Congress about an investigation into “enhanced interrogation techniques," President Obama said the CIA had “tortured some folks” after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values.”
What
gives? I wondered. Presumably he was referring to the CIA during the Bush
administration. If
he were attempting to show solidarity with the CIA then it seemed a politically
dangerous and needless thing to say. Indeed, many headlines from the so-called
liberally-biased media simply read "We tortured folks, says Obama."
Now
it is clear what he was doing: It was a bait for conservatives.
In short order, Liz Cheney, daughter of the former Vice President Dick Cheney, erupted with indignation about Obama's remarks. The venue was, predictably enough, Sean Hannity's show on Fox News.
Hyperbole, like you never
saw.
"..This president is an utter disgrace. He’s got a situation where... you’ve got crises erupting around the world."
A classic non-sequitur and a distraction. Obama wasn't there to talk about the problems of the world and she knew it. Cheney,
(Liz , that is) went on to say:
“And he is expending more time, more energy, more passion, more aggressive activity in targeting and going after patriots, heroes. CIA officers and others who kept is safe after 9/11."
Of course, Cheney's explosive rhetoric is aimed at dividing Americans, a lame attempt to stoke fears one more time. The Cheney apples do not fall far from the tree.
Additionally, there is a very real question about the accuracy of her allegation. Did torture actually keep anybody safe, either in the short or long term?
That's a statement that requires Cheney to prove and she is clearly not willing to attempt it. However, the unreleased U.S. Senate report, according to one source, is purported to conclude that the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques following 9/11 attacks was ineffective and yielded no critical intelligence.
That's bad news for the Cheney family.
Actually, President Obama never said that enhanced interrogation didn't save lives. He said only that these techniques were contrary to our values. Perhaps the moral question -which is what the president was referring to- is simply not something a daughter of Mr. Dick Cheney could possibly grasp.
Not
in a million years.
And
that is the trap that Obama set and the one into which Liz Cheney - clearly speaking in
defense of her father's policies- unwittingly tumbled. It is a question of values, a question whether
the ends justify the means.
Just because we can find a rationale for doing it and a legal means to
escape second-guessing, does it make it right?
