None dare call it treason. Except Hitchens; he dast. Plus, Reid torpedoes Obey

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/11550

None dare call it treason. Except Hitchens; he dast. Plus, Reid torpedoes Obey
by Weldon Berger | Dec 13 2007


Lots of people are upset that the CIA destroyed video showing the torture of two terrorism suspects, but only one person is upset because he thinks the tapes would have been a great public diplomacy tool. And he's so upset that he's accusing the agency of treason and mutiny.

That would be Christopher Hitchens, who writes in Slate that "at a time when Congress and the courts are conducting important hearings on the critical question of extreme interrogation, and at a time when accusations of outright torture are helping to besmirch and discredit the United States all around the world, a senior official of the CIA takes the unilateral decision to destroy the crucial evidence. This deserves to be described as what it is: mutiny and treason." The implication being that people all around the world are perfectly capable of distinguishing between torture and "extreme interrogation", with waterboarding obviously falling into the latter category, and that visual documentation of the difference will redound to our national credit. Ay-yup.

Hitchens is also incensed by the recent Iran NIE, which his own intelligence network proves is nought but opinion, and he's still mad at the CIA for dissing Ahmad Chalabi, resisting regime change in Baghdad—all those skeptical banned weapons assessments, donchaknow—and outing Bob Novak. It's a pocket tour de farce.

Meanwhile, you may have missed it, but for about 30 seconds this week a Democrat drew a line in the sand on funding for Iraq. And then another Democrat shot his foot off.

Appropriations maven David Obey, defying the White House, Congressional Republicans and House Majority Leader Steny "Stand Fast, Retreat Faster" Hoyer, announced that he was pulling the plug on a budget deal that would have given Bush no strings money for his vanity war in exchange for increased funding for Democratic budget priorities. Obey said that since Bush was threatening to veto the spending bill despite the Democratic decision to include unconditional money for Iraq, he would reinstate a version that included no money for Afghanistan and Iraq and hewed to the president's spending limit by trimming the president's priorites. "When the White House continues to stick it in our eye, I say to hell with it."

That was Monday. A day later, Senate Majority Leader Harry "Mind On My Money And Money On My Mind" Reid said that Obey's plan to eliminate all earmarks from the legislation was a non-starter—"I have the right ... to determine what money should be spent in Nevada"—and Nancy Pelosi, who had initially supported Obey's plan, displayed the same strength of character that led her to become a war criminal and switched sides.

The result is that Bush will get his money and Democrats will get a few pieces of silver to distribute to the folks back home. Mission Accomplished. Again. Salon's Glenn Greenwald provides a visual representation of the outcome.



Well done, O mighty warriors.