It’s been interesting to watch both the Bush administration and the Burmese regime twist and flail after the revelation of grievous misdeeds.
Burmese diplomats, borrowing a page from Robert Mugabe, are making noise about “neocolonialism” and insisting that everyone in the world but them is guilty of “confrontation.” But again, we have footage of their goons murdering a Japanese journalist (read about potential fallout here), and further footage of them beating defenseless detainees in the streets. This is the Internet age — they cannot hide. It’s also worth stating clearly that Aung San Suu Kyi, “Lady Suu,” is the rightful leader of Burma. The current rulers lost a democratic election in 1990 and ignored the results. The regime is illegal and needs to dissolve itself.
And in the U.S., as if the Blackwater revelations weren’t awful enough, we have President Bush reacting to this devastating NY Times report on the secret authorization of torture and the blatant politicization of the Justice Dept.:
“I have put this program in place for a reason, and that is to better protect the American people,” the president said, without mentioning the C.I.A. by name. “And when we find somebody who may have information regarding a potential attack on America, you bet we’re going to detain them, and you bet we’re going to question them, because the American people expect us to find out information — actionable intelligence so we can help protect them. That’s our job.”
The controversy is not over “questioning” suspects and he knows it. I should have linked sooner, but Sullivan has commentary and good links here, under the headline “War Criminal” and a picture of Bush. And Sullivan is a conservative.
Comments are closed.