Faith v. Relaity Part 3
Picking up where we left off in the battle of the speeches:
Obama went during his speech to denigrate all efforts made by the Bush administration to rein in terrorists after 9-11. He said “After 9-11 we knew that we had entered a new era, that enemies who did not abide by any law of war would present new challenges to our application of the law…… unfortunately faced with an uncertain threat our government made a series of hasty decisions. And I believe that these decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that too often our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight, and too often trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions.” He went on to say that the Bush administration had used techniques that were illegal, having “failed to rely on our legal traditions and time tested institutions”.
All pretty impressive sounding stuff, huh? The problem is that it is once again completely and utterly untrue and meaningless.
The assertion that Bush lied is getting pretty old. He lied about this and he lied about that. The problem is that if anybody had actual proof that he lied wouldn’t that have come out by now. I’m talking proof, not innuendo to cover their own asses. The entire congress was kept abreast every step of the way on the war in Iraq, the taking of prisoners and the opening of Guantanamo Bay. It was by congressional approval not presidential edict that these actions were carried out. Even the level and harshness of techniques in the interrogation of prisoners was made abundantly clear to congressional leaders.
And while there may have been fear of another attack, fear did not dictate actions. Results dictated action. Results that this president is now trying desperately to hide from the American public.
Waterboarding has become the newest tool of the Democrats in their attempts to keep the public focused on the evils of Bush. Memos describing the technique in graphic detail were released to the eager press for publication. But strangely enough the results of those interrogations have remained secret.
As Dick Cheney explained in his speech across town “You’ve heard endlessly about waterboarding. It happened to three terrorists. One of them was Khalid Sheik Muhammed- the mastermind of 9-11.” Cheney also said “By presidential decision, last month we saw the selective release of documents relating to enhanced interrogations. This is held up as a bold exercise in open government, honoring the public’s right to know. We’re informed as well that there was much agonizing over the decision. Yet somehow, when the soul-searching was done and the veil was lifted on the policies of the Bush administration, the pubic was given less than half the truth. The released memos were carefully redacted to leave out references to what our government learned through the methods in question. Other memos, laying out specific terrorist plots that were averted, apparently were not even considered for release. For reasons the administration has yet to explain, they believe the public has the right to know the method of the questions, but not the content of the answers.”
Back on the other side of DC the words of Obama were still ringing in the halls when he said “I released the memos because there was no overriding reason to protect them.” He went on to say “I ran for President promising transparency, and I meant what I said. That is why, whenever possible, we will make information available to the American people so they can make informed judgments…….”
After damning the Bush administration and presidentially banning the use of extreme, but legal, harsh interrogation tactics wouldn’t it be in the best interest of the people, and the best way to prove your position beyond any doubt, to release the results garnered from the harsh techniques employed on the three most dangerous terrorists housed at Guantanamo Bay? After all this hoopla that this is an open administration and that the tactics used were unconstitutional, a claim which has no basis, and unnecessary, another claim without merit, and unsuccessful, I would think that the perfect example to prove this point is to release the memos of what we found out.
The only possible reason for these results to be withheld is that they completely obliterate the president’s unfounded premise.
In an almost comical closing the president, who had just spent the last 20 minutes pejoratively sniping at the Bush administration said “I understand that it is no secret that there is a tendency in Washington to point fingers at one another. And our media culture feeds the impulses that lead to a good fight. Nothing will contribute more to that than a re-litigation of the last eight years. Already we have seen how that kind of effort only leads those in Washington to different sides laying blame, and can distract us focusing our time, our effort, and our politics on the challenges of the future.” But then only two paragraphs down in his text he deepened his sanctimony by saying “I can stand here today as President of the United States and say without exception or equivocation that we do not torture………..Make no mistake; if we fail to turn the page on the approach that was taken over the past eight years, then I will not be able to say that as President. And if we cannot stand for those core values, then we are not keeping faith with the documents that are enshrined in this hall.”
What a truly cheap shot. The truth is that Barack Hussein Obama is a man of great and unshakable faith. Unfortunately that faith is in Barack Hussein Obama. A man with no experience in dealing with the level of terror and evil that is lurking, planning, waiting for an opportunity to strike again. He is a man who is convinced that if we get attacked again it’s because we had it coming. He is a man who would intentionally mislead the American public to further his completely unrealistic approach to national security. If that is not true, then let him release the memos.
I prefer to end with the closing of statements of Dick Cheney who said “For all that we’ve lost in this conflict, the United States has never lost its moral bearings. And when the moral reckoning turns to the men known as high-value terrorists, I can assure you, they were neither innocent nor victims. As for those that asked them questions and got answers, they did the right thing, they made the country safer, and a lot of Americans are alive today because of them…………I will always admire them and wish them well. And I am confident that this nation will never take their work, their dedication, or their achievements for granted.”
I know I won’t.
