More details from Alberto Gonzales’ written responses to the Senate. Marty Lederman is on the case. Here’s my favorite part:
I’ve wondered how Secretary Rumsfeld, General Counsel Haynes, and other high-ranking DoD officials could have determined — as they did — that techniques such as waterboarding, forced nudity, threatening the death of family members, use of dogs to induce stress, etc., could possibly be lawful in light of (i) the Uniform Code of Military Justice; (ii) the prohibition in Article 16 of the Convention on Torture against cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; and (iii) the President’s February 2002 directive that the Armed Forces treat all detainees “humanely.”
Well, we still don’t know why the UCMJ doesn’t apply. But we learned from Judge Gonzales’s earlier responses that the Administration does not think Article 16 applies in U.S. facilities overseas (such as Guantanamo). And now we learn why the President’s “humaneness” directive is no obstacle to the use of such grotesque techniques. Judge Gonzales writes that “the term ‘humanely’ has no precise legal definition,” but that, “[a]s a policy matter, I would define humane treatment as a basic level of decent treatment that includes such things as food, shelter, clothing and medical care. I understand that the United States is providing this level of treatment for all detainees.”
So “humane” care can also mean near-drowning, use of electric shocks, beating to a pulp, hooding and rape – as long as the victim has shelter, food, clothing and medical care. Well, scratch the clothing. We keep our prisoners naked these days. And the medical care is often needed just to keep the prisoners from dying at the hands of U.S. soldiers. Alas, that didn’t stop over thirty inmates across the war-theater from expiring in suspicious circumstances. Anyway, it’s just a useful defnition of “compassionate conservatism.” Pummel someone’s head in and then hang him from the ceiling. Just give him a sandwich later.
VOLKSWAGEN SUES: They should be pleased. Whatever. The guy who made the TV spoof ad says it was merely for his professional portfolio. But once it got on the web … Hey, nothing’s private any more. Especially something as inspired as that ad.
ABE AND SPONGEBOB: Together at last – in a cartoon. meanwhile, W-crony Margaret Spellings is appalled that a publicly-financed cartoon might actually show a living, breathing lesbian couple. Children are supposed to be protected from such images. Why didn’t Spellings forbid Mary Cheney and Heather Poe from attending the Inauguration? Again, you see the real agenda of some on the right: not a principled campaign against all non-marital heterosexual sex, but an animus against even the visibility of openly gay couples and people.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “I had to laugh reading your comment on the Slate article on green conservatives. It hits home. I am a Republican, more of a libertarian than a conservative these days, married to a Eurowannabe liberal.
When we went looking for a new car (we are about to have our second child) I wanted a Prius, she wanted a big wagon (we compromised on a small station wagon with good mileage). As it was obvious I was the one who wanted the Prius, the salesperson asked if I was a “Green.” My wife started to laugh. I told the salesperson that I was enamored with the technology, but my wife knows the real reason. It angers me that the political, economic and military security of my country depends in large part on the continued goodwill of a bunch of fanatical men wearing dresses who dream about the 7th Century.
Besides my support for gay marriage (in part due to your writing, I have come around to using the “M” word these days), I shock most of my friends and family with my hope that gas prices stay high. Why? Because that will provide economic incentives to in the short term improve hybrid technology and in the long term, develop alternative fuels (like hydrogen fuel cells).
A few years back, when people were trying to come up with name for the various flavors of conservatism (“neocon,” “Paleocon,” “theocon,” etc.), a friend started to call me a “crunchy con.” I sort of like it. In any event, part of being a conservatie is preserving those things in your culture you like. I do not believe in slavishly holding onto the past, as much of the past was nasty. But being a conservative should mean balancing environment and progress. As I look out my window onto Lake Michigan, I realize that an America without open spaces and barren landscapes and dense forests would not be America.” More feedback on the Letters Page.
The Dish 