Corrupting the Character

In his press conference last night, President Obama spoke about the corrupting of the character of America because of waterboarding, which he stated unequivocally was torture.

Here is a link to the briefing and to the press conference itself.

To date it's the strongest statement he has made although he avoided speaking about accountability, at least last night. In prior statements, he said it would be a decision for Attorney General Eric Holder. That's where it belongs, too: it should be a prosecutorial decision not a political one.

But back to the waterboarding, in Spain, five former prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, have joined in the case where a judge has authorized an investigation into the circumstances of American interrogations. According to an interview with Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, on WBAI last evening, if indictments result, so will arrest warrants against those found to have authorized and implemented torture. Since we can't expect that the United States will extradite those US officials, there will be arrest warrants issued. The impact of those will be that Bush, Cheney, and any others will not be able to travel to any European country.

That might not effect Bush, who never likes to leave Texas anyway, but will impede Cheney and Rumsfeld and their capacity to make more money through speaking fees.

That Rumsfeld is making yet more money through the swine flu spread is making me sick. He is one of the founding directors of Gilead Sciences, which owns the world wide patent for the anti-viral.

Pressure is certainly mounting on the United States to act itself, to purge itself, to correct itself. The discussion about whether torture works is a distraction. Imagine what George Washington might think! Let's see how true to the constitution those "originalists" really are.

Sidebar: There was something quaint, and I never thought I would use the word "quaint" about his directions on how to avoid the swine flu: wash your hands, cover your mouth, stay home if you or your children are ill.

He said it twice.