Two Great BuzzFlash Reads

I wanted to pass along a couple of excellent posts on BuzzFlash today.

There's a wonderful editorial called Now the Busheviks Cheer on Failure and Smear Patriots. Here's an excerpt:

So, when you look at George's history, you can understand Iraq from a different angle. Yes, it was a war that sprung from Neo-con fantasies of being "Masters of the Universe," a religious crusade, a motivation to control Iraq's oil, a desire to reward GOP corporate campaign contributors with war profits, a political need to turn Bush into a "War President" to then insulate him from any criticism (which would then be termed unpatriotic), Bush's psychological need to prove that he was tougher than his Dad, etc. -- yes, the Iraq War was due to all these motivations and more.

But, in the end, the Iraq War is really just another George W. Bush fiasco, the kind in which historically Daddy or his friends arrived to pull his butt out of the mess that he had created -- and clean things up before governmental authorities stepped in.

Next, there's a revealing interview with Jennifer Harbury, an attorney and author of Truth, Torture and the American Way, a book that talks about America's systematic use of torture over the years – including Abu Ghraib. Here's a clip from the interview:

What's happened is what has happened in the past. Very low level people, such as, in this case, the MPs who were ordered to carry out those tortures, are held up to the public as scapegoats, put on trial, and sent to jail. Whereas, Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Tenet, who are in clear violation of two felony statutes within the United States which prohibit torture abroad by any U.S. official, or conspiracy to do so, or ordering or condoning such actions – these people have remained completely free. Why are they free with no charges brought against them? Because the person who would decide to indict them would be the Attorney General – formerly Mr. Ashcroft, now Mr. Gonzales. We have a clear breakdown of the checks and balances system here. They should be under indictment, but they're not, so their crimes are continuing. And that, in fact, is going to greatly increase the risks of more attacks against our country.

Both are well worth your time.