“The president, having started a fire by recklessly releasing memos describing interrogation tactics, and then having poured gasoline on the flames by reversing himself on the banana-republic notion of investigating his political rivals, cannot douse the resulting inferno simply by saying, Oh, never mind. The president is reeling because he sees his legislative agenda going up in smoke. In his inexperience, he reckoned that his base on the Left would somehow be sated by the mere disclosure of Bush-era methods, coupled with vague assurances that a day of reckoning for Bush administration officials might soon be at hand. His Republican opposition, he further figured, would be cowed by his moral preening on ‘torture.’ This, he concluded, would mean smooth sailing ahead for the more pressing business of nationalizing the economy, starting with the health-care industry. But as George W. Bush might have warned his successor, anti-American ideologues are emboldened, not mollified, by concessions.” –former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy on Obama’s release of the CIA interrogation memos
“Some people believe you never torture. Ever. They are akin to conscientious objectors who will never fight in any war under any circumstances, and for whom we correctly show respect by exempting them from war duty. But we would never make one of them Centcom commander. Private principles are fine, but you don’t entrust such a person with the military decisions upon which hinges the safety of the nation.” –Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer
Posted by ajnone on June 25, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Thank you sir for having the courage and the capacity to express yourself effectively. We need more people with your abilities using their talents for the greater good.