On question of torture, Americans deserve answers (Bode / Indy Star)

[struggle4progress]

Ken Bode
Posted: May 8, 2009

Condoleezza Rice was with George W. Bush at the start and stayed to the end, the most loyal member of the administration of all. As national security adviser, she was in the White House on Sept. 11 when Bush arrived late that evening and told his assembled staff, "We are at war and we will stay at war until this is done. Any barriers in your way, they are gone."

She also was there in February 2002, when Bush issued a written declaration saying the Geneva Conventions affording minimum standards for humane treatment "did not apply to Taliban or al-Qaida detainees."

It was Rice who received the Office of Legal Counsel memo proclaiming that the president, acting pursuant to his constitutional powers as commander in chief, could override the federal anti-torture statutes. Rice conveyed that authorization to the CIA ...

When the student asked, "Is waterboarding torture?" Rice replied, "By definition, if it was authorized by the president it did not violate our obligations under the Conventions Against Torture." By definition! Bush, Cheney and Rice really do believe the president has imperial authority ...

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090508/OPINION12/905080331/1002/OPINION

[The Magistrate]

1. It Is Simply Incredible, Sir, That This Is Appearing In The Indianapolis Star

That paper was just a few shades short of a John Birch rag for most of its modern existence....

[struggle4progress]

2. Perhaps they are coming to their senses. Or perhaps they are concerned

that the leftwing is planning to storm the editors' offices and will start pulling out fingernails in an effort to obtain confessions about the Star's anti-American plots. But I'd guess the real story is that circulation is slipping, and the paper needs subscribers:

Newspaper circulation slips
Posted: April 28, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS -- Most large U.S. newspapers, including The Indianapolis Star, posted declines in circulation for the six months ending March 31 as readers continued to migrate to the Internet for news and information and as publishers took steps to shed unprofitable circulation. The Star posted circulation of 232,361 (down 9 percent) for Monday through Friday; 201,797 (down 7.4 percent) for Saturday; and 311,322 (down 4 percent) for Sunday ... http://www.indystar.com/article/20090428/BUSINESS/904280319/1305/ARCHIVE

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. The Indy Star and other USA/Gannett owned papers made their own bed

The abject failure of these papers to report honestly about the outrageous, criminal actions of the Bush era is a huge reason they have lost readers. They are now reaping the whirlwind. Ken Bode, by the way, was a Bush cheerleader a few years back. He engaged in the mindless attacks on liberals during the heady "march to war" years of the Bush regime. One wonders whether anyone in the executive meetings at the paper to discuss the precipitous drop in circulation had the stones to offer that if the newspaper stopped printing propaganda and started doing real journalism, they might stop losing readers. It sucks for the Indy Star and others that the Internet emerged just at the same time they began to "play ball" to get Bush elected and keep him in office. Obviously the 'Net was going to have a negative impact on readership, but these newspapers greased the skids of their own demise by lying to their readers. Lastly, the Indy Star gave full throated approval of the Iraq War even AFTER no WMD's were found. I find it a bit odd that they still do not see the correlation.

[Senator]

4. K&R