Harsh words from Dan Froomkin on the Bush-Cheney record - and true

Dan Froomkin lays out the grim legacy of the Bush torture policy and the foreign policy of which it was a part (The Two Most Essential, Abhorrent, Intolerable Lies Of George W. Bush's Memoir Huffington Post 11/22/20-10):

These days, when we think of George W. Bush, we think mostly of what a horrible mess he made of the economy. But his even more tragic legacy is the loss of our moral authority, and the transformation of the United States of America from global champion of human rights into an outlaw nation.

History is likely to judge Bush most harshly for two things in particular: Launching a war against a country that had not attacked us, and approving the use of cruel and inhumane interrogation techniques.

And that's why the two most essential lies -- among the many -- in his new memoir are that he had a legitimate reason to invade Iraq, and that he had a legitimate reason to torture detainees.

The Cheney-Bush Administration represents a very ugly inflection point for American governance. And the Obama Administration's unwillingness to deal with the very serious legal issues that the Cheney-Bush torture program in particular present has already seriously prolonged a more hopeful resolution to them.

Tags: accountability for torture, george w bush, torture

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