Sunday, November 20, 2005

Powell's former chief of staff : "no question" U.S. used torture....

Well, you'd expect this to be coming from the "far left" but once your own Secratary of State's former Chief of Staff starts using the T-word, you should be worried no? (especially if a leading member of your own party is out there trying to ban torture, and your response is to threaten to veto his bill....)

From CNN:

Retired U.S. Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff, told CNN that the practice of torture may be continuing in U.S.-run facilities.
"There's no question in my mind that we did. There's no question in my mind that we may be still doing it," Wilkerson said on CNN's "Late Edition."


"There's no question in my mind where the philosophical guidance and the flexibility in order to do so originated -- in the vice president of the United States' office," he said. "His implementer in this case was [Defense Secretary] Donald Rumsfeld and the Defense Department."

At another point in the interview, Wilkerson said "the vice president had to cover this in order for it to happen and in order for Secretary Rumsfeld to feel as though he had freedom of action."

Bad couple of weeks for the administration. The existence of secret U.S. prisons in Eastern Europe is leaked, the Murtha fiasco blows up in the GOP's face, and everywhere I look on the news tonight there are stories about those secret CIA jetstreams, and prisoners being flown to Egypt and Syria (gee, I wonder why...). Conspiracy nuts must be losing it. Everything they've ever dreamed up is showing up on CNN! Heads up everybody. That crazy guy down the street who thinks the CIA's after him? Keep your distance. You don't want to be around when they grab him.

:-)

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2 comments:

James Bowie said...

Now there's a good reason for the US to sign onto the ICC right there.

Jim (Progressive Right) said...

Colin Powell has been steadily distancing himself away from the current Republican administration - I think this is at least the 2nd (maybe 3rd(?)) statement where he or his staff has contradicted or said something that embarasses this admin.

Good for him, I say.