Monday, October 23, 2006

Those Who Support Torture

Last week, Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, aka the torture bill, which legalizes torture - along with secret CIA prisons, suspension of habeas corpus and military trials - for "enemy combatants." An "enemy combatant" is, apparently, any non-citizen the president says is an enemy combatant.

This outrageous move has been condemned by, well, everyone... around the world and within the United States. The Red Cross and ACLU have lodged objections. It's not a bill that should stand up to a constitutional challenge... except that the Supreme Court got two new members during the Bush presidency.

We all knew that Bush is a dangerous lunatic, but the US system of checks and balances was supposed to prevent this kind of fascist development. It did not because 65 senators voted for torture. The following senators voted for the torture bill:

Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Burr, Carper, Chambliss, Coburn, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeMint, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Frist, Graham, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kyl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, McConnell, Menendez, Murkowski, Nelson (Florida), Nelson (Nebraska), Pryor, Roberts, Rockefeller, Salazar, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Specter, Stabenow, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Thune, Vitter, Voinovich, Warner

These people should not be re-elected. McCain's presidential bid should be over. This should be the final nail in Joe Lieberman's career.

A disturbing side note: Washington insiders say that the torture bill was a cynical attempt by the Bush administration to deflect attention from its other scandals.

Garrison Keillor wrote a very good column on the subject.

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