Confessions

James Wimberley and Mark Kleiman team up to mount the argument that in Bush's Abu Zubaydah speech the other day he offered up what amounts to a confession of having ordered torture (banned by 18 USC 2340) and war crimes (as defined in 18 USC 2441) both crimes that carry hefty punishment under American law.

Sick as it is that the President would do the things he's done, it seems to me somehow even sicker that he proudly admit having done them in public speeches, believing that such confessions strengthen, rather than weaken, his domestic political standing. Sickest of all is that if you made me guess, I'd say Bush is probably right and his advocacy of torture and cruel and degrading treatment (to the point of death in many cases) is a political asset. Certainly, I hope I'm wrong or a sad and shameful episode in our national history will get even sadder and more appalling.