THE ROAD TO REPUBLICAN REDEMPTION: “The federal government is now an astounding 185 times as big in real terms as it was a century ago. A general sense that Republicans have forgotten why they were sent to Washington is a big reason why the GOP lost control of Congress last year. The road to redemption has to include a crackdown on earmarks, which Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn calls ‘the gateway drug to higher spending in many other areas.’” - John Fund, Political Diary, 12/21/07
“Only the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), still suffering from its mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, ranks below the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) among the least-liked federal agencies, according to a new Associated Press/Ipsos poll. TSA tied with the tax man (IRS) in a favorability ranking of executive branch agencies. The poll, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found that the more people travel, the less they like the TSA.”
- Associated Press, 12/21/07
WHAT REAL TORTURE LOOKS LIKE
“It didn’t get a lot of attention, but in mid-December, U.S. forces in Iraq discovered an al Qaeda torture center north of Baghdad. Muqdadiya is about 60 miles north of the capital. American soldiers found a blood-spattered room where chains still hung on the gory walls. A metal bed frame was still connected to an electric shock generator. The Americans also found bloody knives and swords. Outside, the bodies of 26 people were buried in common graves…
“Last May, according to The Smoking Gun website, U.S. troops unearthed an even more grisly site, an al Qaeda torture chamber in Baghdad itself. When they entered, the soldiers found an Iraqi man suspended from the ceiling by chains. The room contained torture implements including hammers, whips, meat cleavers and wire cutters as well as a crude torture manual, displaying various methods of inflicting unbearable pain. These included using a blowtorch on the skin, gouging out eyes, using an electric drill to cut through a hand, and many more.”
- Columnist Mona Charen
GIVE THAT MAN A MEDAL
“His name isn’t yet familiar to most Americans, but I expect it will be by the end of 2008: Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. He is the man, according to recent press reports, who ordered the destruction of interrogation tapes made by the CIA, which allegedly show the effects of waterboarding and other ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ used against terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. In the next few months, his name will likely be dragged through the mud, and he will be vilified as a rogue official engaged in a massive cover-up. I think he deserves a medal.
“…It is difficult to imagine what harm might have come from the release of the CIA interrogation tapes — but there is no doubt that had they continued to exist, at some point they would have become public. The tapes’ release would have jeopardized sources and methods used by the CIA, the most serious category of risk to American intelligence. And their release might have led to assassinations of CIA operatives, greater risk for our captured soldiers, and international hand-wringing by our putative allies.
“Rodriguez’s lawyer says that his client sought and received legal clearance to destroy the tapes. Even though he is likely to become a scapegoat, what he did was right. He protected not just his men but all of us. I, for one, thank him.”
- Columnist Linda Chavez
Posted on December 22nd, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
Leave a Reply