If CIA and top White House goons and National Security officials really did conspire to create and execute torture policy while keeping the Commander-in-Chief in the dark for years, then what happened can only be described as the first coup d'etat in American history.
Of course the notion of "President Cheney" really running the country while Prezit Stupid kept the yokels distracted by talked about Freedumb and murdered the English language is by now a very old joke. And it is a measure of what an abject failure Bush was as a leader and a man that the idea of him being operated like a finger puppet by a cabal of oligarchs and neocon ghouls is just sorta shrugged off as "Oh well..." these days.
But it is interesting that no one dares to put what happened in terms of a coup d'etat.
Because those terms are scary as Hell.
*Thanks for the catch
*Thanks for the catch
12 comments:
Under what terms should we judge the man who inherited and fully embraced Junior's legacy? Why are we staring in the rear view mirror while Barack "Murder Tuesday" Obama directs traffic in the intersection?
You could go back as far as 1963, depending on your personal beliefs.
I'd say for sure, December 2000.
Empires are notorious for this. Don't expect it to end anytime soon.
Coldtype:
Taking your question at face value, the most generous take on Obama's responsibility for preserving George W's legacy is that he placed more value on trying to unify the country than redressing recent wrongs. Perhaps he didn't feel he *could* effectively bring the architects of Dubya's torture policies to justice. As cowardly as it looks in hindsight, he may not be wrong in regarding justice as out of reach. The elephant in the room is that quite possibly no black man could hope to be the person who forces America to take a good look in the mirror; his efforts would almost certainly be spun as retribution rather than redress. I don't know what the consequences would have been but I can guess.
--Nonny Mouse
A coup, you're getting into drunken-Irish-tinfoil-hat-Charlie-Pierce-Alex-Jones territory here. Put down the paint thinner.
When you work for powerful people, in the government or outside of it, part of your job is plausible deniability. It may be stated straight out "just get it done, but for gods sakes don't tell me how you did it", or winks and nods, but this is how shit works.
Part of the CIA's job is to take the heat and the hate, and give our elected leaders the ability to say "we had no fucking idea" and then get whipped in public. Ditto for the military, hell ditto for professional aids and subordinates. Everyone knows what you are up to, but you don't state it so your boss can't get pinned with it.
*putsch
@n1ck, only 1963? My personal beliefs let me take it back as far as July 26, 1947. (In the Illuminatus! trilogy, a novice illuminatus in 1938 is shown a rough draft of the National Security Act and states point-blank "This abolishes the Constitution.")
@Nonny: quite possibly no black man could hope to be the person who forces America to take a good look in the mirror
I'll go further and say that no Democrat "could hope to be the person who forces America to take a good look in the mirror", just as no neocon would want to be that person, and nobody outside those categories would be allowed near the levers of power, particularly not an actual liberal (horrors! horrors greeley!).
I don't buy for a minute that the CIA kept President Cheney out of the loop. And Bush is the son of a former CIA head, so whether he knew details or not, he was down with whatever warped shit they were doing in the thousands of not released pages of the torture report. He's shown himself to be a sick fuck many times over. And he was all in favor of fronting for the cabal of ghouls who are now too big to prosecute. He doesn't regret a second of the horrors which continue to appall us in the reality-based community.
Alexander Haig is calling to dispute your "First!". I'd give him a hearing. As for retribution, yes, let's do that. A new Reconstruction, by all means. Stop talking about how to appeal to the white working class, and start building a coalition of the "them" that outnumbers the white identity "us". I had occasion to look up when spuosal rape laws were enacted. The last state to do so was in 1993. Is there any doubt that those laws would never have a chance in hell today? Whisper in the ear of conservatives you know that this could be a great campaign issue. The awful white women who are married to the awful white men seem to think that being the house servant is a good deal. We should remind them of what that deal really is when liberals are not there to make the case for their humanity. Steve King, and Todd Akin and co. no doubt could not contain themselves if the subject came up.
Yeah, maybe you're right Neo Tuxedo. Maybe it isn't possible to for there to be a public discussion over the findings of that report. It will inevitably get turned into a partisan issue. It is absurd; one of the most important issues the US has to face and it will be greeted with a chorus of yowling.
--formerly Nonny Mouse
@Coldtype People like you, who are primarily interested in sliming your despised Obama for the thoughtcrime of Didn't.Even.Try, are a driving factor behind Bush's smirking freedom today. Busting up the liberal/left coalition in the name of purity and self righteousness ensures that we never, ever, have the power accomplish anything and that life is an unending stream of unanswered Republican outrages. Your mother must be very proud.
Regards, Horace
Didn't Even Try!? Are you serious? You mean the man who after being ludicrously awarded a Nobel Peace Prize gave a war speech during the acceptance ceremony? You mean the Commander in Chief of a nation currently at war with at least 7 countries? Girrrrl please!
@Neo
I date the US going full-fascist at 1947, just like you. Well, we we're already heading there and more things happened after 1947...but 1947 was a good year, if you were a US fascist.
Here are a few other interesting events from 1947.
-House Un-American Activities Committee demonizing Hollywood (still happens by our fascists today)
-Taft Hartley (still in effect: Reagan strike-breaking, right-to-work)
-National Security Act (NSA, CIA, nuff said)
-Truman Doctrine increasing US-Soviet tensions
-Executive Order 9835 Loyalty Oaths
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