Free Speech Down One: PBS Sleeps Torture Documentary Till Bushco Walks

It's simply obvious. And predictable. This report says

Scott Horton reports today that PBS may have refused to nationally air a controversial documentary on the use of torture by the U.S. government in order to protect its funding.

You can view the documentary called "Torturing Democracy" here.

What stinks about it is that PBS is supposed to be "viewer supported" and hence above the level of government censorship and influence. But apparently not:

According to producer Sherry Jones, PBS told her that “no time slot could be found for the documentary before January 21, 2009″ — the day after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney leave office.

So what made PBS stoop so low? Did Bush-Cheney threaten them in some way? It can't be that Bushco suddenly became a huge contributor. And what does this mean for freedom of speech?

As for motives, maybe prior experience contributed to PBS's backtrack:

This spring, PBS’s distinguished Frontline series aired a mildly critical account of the lead-up to the Iraq War entitled “Bush’s War.” As the airing of the program was announced, the Bush Administration proposed to slash public funding for PBS by roughly half for 2009, by 56% for 2010 and eliminating funding entirely for 2011. Did PBS get the message? Perhaps.

So it's all about funding, eh? Well, there's some explosive material in this new documentary, more explosive, absolutely, than "Bush's War".

The show delivers impressively on a promise to “connect the dots in an investigation of interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody that became ‘at a minimum, cruel and inhuman treatment and, at worst, torture’” (quoting Alberto Mora, who served as general counsel of the Navy under Donald Rumsfeld, and features in an interview). In one dramatic scene, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage describes being waterboarded as part of a training program he went through before being sent to Vietnam. Did he consider waterboarding to be torture, Armitage was asked? “Absolutely. No question.” And he continued, “There is no question in my mind—there's no question in any reasonable human being, that this is torture. I'm ashamed that we're even having this discussion.”

And of course, that wouldn't help the GOP in an election year, would it? I think "wouldn't help" is, of course, a gross understatement.

No one who has seen this dramatic documentary is likely to buy into the “rotten apples” narrative any longer.

Which may help explain why PBS appears to be suffering from acute corporate indigestion over the work. The project was first offered to PBS in September 2007, with the representation that it would be available to air after May 2008. It was completed and circulated to PBS decision makers on schedule in May of this year.

And from May to December? Well, the time slot just wasn't there. Burp! Or maybe it was... that indigestion again. Why can't we have brave journalists in corporations anymore? Should corporations' stomach ailments block the truth from coming out when it should come out - when the culprits it's exposing are still in power????

Freedom of speech isn't won by the soldiers in the war on terror - sorry, Sarah. It's won by the journalists in the battle for truth.

New Blockbuster Book: Bushco Violated Constitution, Committed War Crimes

(check review here)
Yes we all know it, don't we? But the evidence outside our own minds, actual legal evidence, is mounting, evidence that can be used in a court of law. And Jane Mayer's about-to-be-published (target date: July 15th) book The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, is, according to its publisher:

a dramatic, riveting, and definitive narrative account of how the United States made terrible decisions in the pursuit of terrorists around the world-- decisions that not only violated the Constitution to which White House officials took an oath to uphold, but also hampered the pursuit of Al Qaeda. In gripping detail, acclaimed New Yorker writer and bestselling author, Jane Mayer, relates the impact of these decisions—U.S.-held prisoners, some of them completely innocent, were subjected to treatment more reminiscent of the Spanish Inquisition than the twenty-first century.

THE DARK SIDE will chronicle real, specific cases, shown in real time against the larger tableau of what was happening in Washington, looking at the intelligence gained—or not—and the price paid. In some instances, torture worked. In many more, it led to false information, sometimes with devastating results. For instance, there is the stunning admission of one of the detainees, Sheikh Ibn al-Libi, that the confession he gave under duress—which provided a key piece of evidence buttressing congressional support of going to war against Iraq--was in fact fabricated, to make the torture stop.

In all cases, whatever the short term gains, there were incalculable losses in terms of moral standing, and our country's place in the world, and its sense of itself. THE DARK SIDE chronicles one of the most disturbing chapters in American history, one that will serve as the lasting legacy of the George W. Bush presidency.

And in a related video to be released for home viewing in September, called "Taxi to the Dark Side", it shows

According to the documentary, even the Pentagon has concluded that more than 35 detainees have died as a result of homicide while under American custody -- and they were killed by torture techniques authorized directly by the White House under the direction of Cheney, with the knowledge of Bush. Rumsfeld set the tone in the Pentagon for the torture to be undertaken as a routine procedure.

The CIA esitmated that a 1/3 of the "terrorist detainees" were not really terrorists; and other estimates place the innocent figure as high as 50%.

So why, may I ask, is impeachment off the table??????

Here's a taste of life under an Emperor. We can be put in jail for not paying taxes. $10 billion of those taxes can be given unconditionally to a dictator in a far-away country, say, Pakistan, because Dick and George say they get it. And there ain't a damn thing you or Congress or anyone else can do about it. Because now it's Dick and George's money.

According to the Washington Post article:

U.S. assistance to the key anti-terrorism and nuclear armed ally _ which has totaled nearly $10 billion since 2001 _ is governed by legislative requirements that could trigger automatic aid cutoffs, but all are covered by locked-in presidential waivers, said officials familiar with a government-wide review.

Those waivers exempt Pakistan from aid restrictions.

If you look closely, you'll find a lot of those waivers. And Presidential directives. And signing statements. And there ain't a damn thing you or the Congress or anyone else can do about it. Because Dick wants George to be an Emperor, and y'all to be an Empire. An expensive enterprise, that. So far in human history, there's no nation that could ever really afford it.

Being an empire inevitably costs more than any one nation can produce, and its subjected sub-nations invariably hate the imposition, which usually leads to unrest, often civil war, and as long as it's an empire and handled militarily, rarely offers those riches and resources so desired by the invading powers.

So Pakistan, run by a military dictatorship, is actually "on the road to democracy"? And guess who's footing the bill for that democracy?

"Bush has been obligated by law since 2002 to issue waivers for most assistance to Pakistan, declaring that direct payments to Islamabad are in the U.S. national interest because they promote the transition to democratic rule. The officials familiar with the aid review conceded Musharraf's recent actions are at odds with the process of democratization but noted that unless Congress enacts new legislation or passes the new budget, the existing waivers continue to apply."

And the war in Iraq is also touted for promoting democracy. That's the whole point.

Building an empire. Democracy by force. And you pay ... or else...

Plan II: Let's Play Religious Cowboys

"I'm not a divider, I'm a uniter."

Would you buy a used insurance policy from this man?

"I don't sell insurance, I sell wars."

Is that like death insurance instead of life insurance?

"Exactly. At some point, people will stop dying enough to balance out the birth rate. I'm doin' a public service. War is good for the human race and good for the planet. And who's got the guts to do it, I ask you? Democrats? Since when did a Democrat give you a half-decent war?"

But I thought war was not healthy for children and other living things...

"Where are you from - the Vegetarian Times? PBS? Amy Goodman?"

I'll put it this way - I'm not from Haliburton.

"Let me put it this way - we've got to change the world, and make it safe for democracy, and there's only one way to do it, and that's make war."

Can't we talk? Negotiate? Whatever happened to diplomacy? And by the way, why are you dressed that way?

"First off, I never negotiate with terrorists. Second off, diplomacy is what's wrong with the world. And third, I'm under a lot of pressure, bein' Leader of the Planet. This is how I relax. I can just blend in and nobody will notice me."

Are you crazy? Everyone will stare at you, dressed like that.

Not in Karachi, or Yemen. Where do you think I relax? Camp David? I need to be around guys who are on the same page about war. Sick of these goddamned liberals talkin' about peace and they don't know what they're doing. We're uniting the world. On to Armageddon!

Excuse me, I need some air. I can't breathe.

"But there's plenty of air in here, yuk, yuk. It's just comin' out the wrong end..."

(Your "plans" must be coming out of there, too...)

The Meddler on the Roof

"Hey, Chicken Little, I'm the guy with the fiddle! Hey, Cow, jump over the moon!"

O Great Oracle, what next? O Great Wizard, tell me, tell me do, over what line must I step?
"Lo, every border of every nation is a line. And the sensibilities of every people form a line. You must step over every line and every crack. Remember: step on a line, break your mother's spine; step on a crack, break your mother's back. You can't step back - so you must step over."
Thus spake the artificial voice of Henrathustra.

Deep within that eminent throat, somewhere between the brooding or quizzical eyes, lies the answer to Our Quagmire. Dr. K, author of the brilliant Theory of Vietnamic Victory, now spews more visionary dementia.

"It's not rotten - it's just overripe!" and "Iraq by any other name would pull as hard" and "When the going goes quicksand, the tough stay the course." Or sink the course, as the case may be.
From the annals of oil-soaked governmental underestimation to the hard-nosed rule of One Grim Hombre (aka Don "The Reaper"), to the plan-a-victory-party-first, fight-the-war-later-whatever Illusionist Lovefest, to the bloody streets of the Red Zone, to the hearts and minds of uninformed, backward, out-of-the-loop folks who inexplicably believe that an invasion is an invasion - what's up with that? - yes, the Bush Administration is ready for some good Mood Music!

And what better music-meister than the Grandmeister of 'em all, Henrathustra. Always the Meddle-man, getting his Wise Old Fingers on every fiddle, every Republican Club Sandwich, every Let's Defy Doomsday Pie. Bush II is all ears when it comes to the Meddle of the Road.
"Hands on!" He says. "Victory Is Near!" He says. "Death to Fascists!" He says.

And when the world reels in horror at the brazen insanity of it all, the K-Meister soothes those tense nerves and that shaken conscience with a time-tested refrain, "God is on your side. If you change your mind, everything you've done will be destroyed, and you will be shamed as a liar! You know we're right! They are the evil ones! We live a purpose-driven life, and our purpose is to meddle! When the going gets dead-end, the tough cross lines..."

Thus spake Henrathustra. "And if you're not up with that, I've got three words for ya .. Kiss my thustra!"

Well, frankly, who can argue with that? So the Grandmeister got Bush II's ears and the country's hemmorhaging red and green in a whoop-de-doo hot wing BBQ beer-keggin' Bash for Freedom where a visionary screen shows would-be terrorists NOT using the invasion of Iraq as the Mother of All Recruiting Tools (with even a real life battleground auto-start to use), but instead predicts they will suddenly be overcome with the smell of ol' BBQ pork ribs and convert to the religion of Playboy, beer and Big Screen TV. Instead of hearing Qur'an recitation, you'll find Kenny Chesney singing "She thinks my tank's sexy".

Yes, and what a realistic vision! At a cost equivalent to what it costs to run a Whirlpool dishwasher per day, we'll save Iraq from its citizens who are Dangerous Arabs that Probably Pray to Mecca and, most importantly, they Don't Love Israel as Israel Should be Loved. Ach! Well, OK, so the dishwasher is supposed to run in the Kuiper belt and we have to finance three missions to "Xena", that cute planetette next to Pluto. So the cost is astronomical. So shoot me.
But no! Behold! The whole world knows the K-Meister is a genius.

O, K-Oracle, tell us how to swim the backstroke in quicksand.

"Do it while being pulled out by a giant crane."

And where or what, pray tell, is this giant crane?

"Behold! The might of the American military is more powerful than a crane. Lo, it shall come to pass that we shall be victorious and our armies shall conquer their armies, and..."

But they don't even have an army! This is just a bunch of insurgents and terrorists and factions killing each other and we're caught in the middle!

"Did you say meddle?"

No, I said MIDDLE.

"Lo, my brethren, they are one and the same. Let's meddle in the Middle East and call it the middle of the meddling road, where victory is ..."

A muddle?

"No! We know what we're doing, and it's crystal ball clear that if you don't send more bodies now, we will look weak, and WE are a SUPERPOWER and THEY are not - therefore they must be shown to lose at all costs."

But what if we can't afford it? What if the American people don't want to send more bodies into a quagmire?

"Lo, I ask you, who is the Commander-in-Chief? The American people? And who is the Cash Cow? The Commander-in-Chief? Enough talk! Biased liberal media! We need action now! Stop thinking, dammit!"

Thus spake Henrathustra. And if you don't agree, you can kiss his thustra. And if you wonder why he's on the roof of the white house, well, you know how oracles hate drowning in mud. He's clean, pristine, and fairly mean - but Bush is up to his neck in muck...

"If I were a bitch, man... ta da dadadadadadadadadadadadadahhh....if I were a stealthy man!..."

Yes, and you can hear this mood music in the RNC's lobby - but please wear boots! And carry a big life jacket...

The Most Trusted Name in Politics

Who can you trust these days? The whole GOP is getting caught in the credibility undertow for the war in Iraq, the lies that got us there, and other shovelfuls of crap that lined foreign policy bins, election campaigns, and stooge diplomacy. The Dems are getting dumped on too - Hillary is accused of being "liberal" (see "evil" and "church"), and Obama is accused of being "outside the loop," as in "beltloop" and no one is in the mood for being, shall we say, belt-free. Tom Jefferson or Jesus would seem to be fairly trustworthy, even by today’s rigorous standards (sic), but the trick is to find someone who is actually alive.

What we need is a bipartisan consensus, an examination of who people actually trust and believe, someone who commands trust from both sides of the fence.

Prez Bush himself told us who that someone could be last September 7, 2006, in an interview on ABC News with Charles Gibson, who asked Bush three times what was the connection between the Iraq War and the War on Terror, and in response, Bush was forced to rely on the sole indisputable source on this issue: who else? "Bush’s best answer was that Iraq is part of the ‘war on terror’ because Osama bin Laden says it is."

Bush stated in support of the invasion of Iraq that although he admits Saddam Hussein "didn’t order the attacks", his crowning argument is that "Osama bin Laden has called Iraq central to the war on terror."

Gibson goes further, asking, "But the point that I make and that many of the critics make is that Iraq wasn’t a part of the war on terror until we went in there. ..."

To which Bush replied, forthrightly, "I ... I ... listen, I understand it’s dangerous and troublesome, but I think it’s very important for the American people to ask, ‘Why, why is it that Osama bin Laden wants to drive us out of Iraq before this democracy can sustain itself?’"

So there you have it, UBL is the new "it" man, and has held that title for quite a spell. Other Republicans in W’s chorus of yes-men also chant this tune: "Iraq is critical to the war on terror... even Osama bin Laden says so!" Don’t take the President’s word on it, or the Secretary of Defense’s, heaven forbid, or the word of the Secretary of State, or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or the word of any high-ranking official. You don’t have to take the word of these known liars. The Most Trusted Name in Politics says so. Al-Qaeda says so. UBL says so, for God’s sake! Nuff said.

Of course, you can’t trust liberals. They probably don’t even believe in an Axis of Evil. But UBL believes1 He’s on-board with the program. He’s up with this evil-good thing. He’s just got it in reverse, but at least he’s got it. So you can trust him.

Now think about it a moment. With all that righteous Republican trust in his pocket, why doesn’t UBL cash in: "If Al-Qaeda says it is, you KNOW it is." Imagine the spike in sales of Coca-Cola, for example, if UBL would show up in a video with one.

"After three hours on donkey-back, one hour under gunfire, seven miles up winding mountain trails, carried in an insulated duffel bag by a courier known only to three people, two of whom blew themselves up, finally delivered to and carefully extricated by none other than UBL himself (taking a swig of Coke, then saying), ‘When I say it’s good - (shots fired in the air) - it’s DAMN GOOD!!!’"

He could have made enough on that one spot to finance the overthrow of two key unnamed Middle Eastern countries, or scare the hell out of two unspecified Western countries, or upset the balance of six key economic bases. It’s his choice, man, and hey, it might be a better investment for Coke than financing the War in Iraq. Most Middle East countries could use a good overthrow, and a good scare never hurt anyone, and economic bases are mostly fronts for rich egomaniacal moguls, anyway. And who drinks Coke? The people, that’s who. It’s a win-win.

Of course, this scenario never happened and never will happen. If it did, UBL would ultimately be just another money-groveling cog in the great wheel of Fortune, instead of a North Star for the Compass of Trust. No, UBL would never show up in a 30-second spot for Coke. He commands the world around him, and when he says he’s going to do something, he does it. He says "I’m going to attack America" and he attacks America. He stops saying "I’m going to attack America" and he stops attacking America.

He listened to his fellow Al-Qaedians when they told him this 9-11 style thing is backfiring and it’s got to stop, or that oops! You forgot to invite Americans to Islam first and bomb them afterwards. So no more 9-11’s and no more attacks until a full Invitation to Islam is issued.
Problem was, when he issued his Invitation to Islam, he issued it in Arabic with no explanation of what "Islam" is, relying on outsiders to translate. So he came up with an American who is now a fellow Al-Qaedian, to issue a Revised English Version of that Invitation, complete with an American-language synopsis of Islam, or Islam-in-an-Al-Qaedian-nutshell.

After all, UBL and the Bush Administration have the same agenda: interfere in every country you can get your hands on to convert them to your belief-system/culture. They just happen to have, well, different belief-systems. But both are international "activists," shall we say, with a penchant for war as a means of solving problems and pushing one’s agenda. Both seem immune to the notion that interference in other countries causes the people of those countries untold misery, and both seem to work in tandem: where goes Bush, so goes UBL; where goes UBL, so goes Bush. Bush went to Iraq, so UBL sent some fellow Al-Qaedians over thataway. Both are caught up in this bloody, immoral Morality Play that is as much in tune with reality as Donald Duck riding Silver to Armageddon.

Let’s see, wasn’t the moon in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligned with Mars, and it was the dawning of ... just a minute, it’s not the Age of Reason or the Age of Aquarius, so it must be - the Age of Holy War! Is the Bush Administration even cognizant of the fact that they started this latest Holy War? "Let’s spread democracy over all the world." What’s the deal?

Bush says he wants to spread democracy by the sword - or in more updated terms, by the bomb, or whatever weapons system seems right at the time. Now, now, tsk, tsk, the world sees it as an invasion. Well, if it looks, smells, tastes, bleeds and destroys like an invasion, it is an invasion. The world sees the purpose of that invasion as the obvious purpose of any invasion - to take over and control.
The idea of "We are coming here to benevolently free you from your long-held traditions, culture and religion to OUR way of life on OUR terms and you will answer to OUR dictates and give us YOUR oil..." - well, it’s a hard sell, this "freedom." If it doesn’t look, taste, act or smell like freedom, then what the hell is it? Since when does freedom mean no infrastructure, death of your children, neighbors, no commerce, no roads, not a single inch of security anywhere, no schools, no reason to live?

Gee! Wonder why they don’t love us? And where did we get our ideas on cultural foreplay? Slasher flicks?
Or could it be overkill?

Tell me, where would you rather live, in Iraq or New York City? Where would you rather live, in Afghanistan or next to Ground Zero in the nearest habitable habitation? Does next door to the Pentagon sound better than a flat in the Green Zone? Note, the Green Zone is the Park Avenue of Baghdad. Yes, 9-11 was a tragedy, and all the world recognized that. But it was not an invasion. It was not a takeover. UBL promised to attack, but not to take over. He never even promised to destabilize. He never even declared war. The attack is bad, very bad. Those whom he attacked in 9-11 were innocent victims. Most of them probably know nothing about any of the causes dear to UBL’s agenda, much less have anything to do with them. They were, at worst, cogs in the wheel of Fortune.

And as a North Star of Trust, he should have attacked the people he was really mad at, like the Saudi royal family. Or some of the other despots throwing their well-heeled "my whim is your fate, chump" weight around in the Islamic world. Maybe he could have liberated, instead of further destroying the lives of, some of those people on the Muslim street he is an ironic icon for. They are also victims of 9-11. And many still don’t get it.

Bush, likewise, remains an icon for many a poor soul from the Heartland and the South, people for whom patriotism means obedience, parades, and sending their children to die. They idolize the man who sent their children to die for the great rhetoric, for the military campaign, for "standing up for freedom", for waving the flag, for eating potluck casseroles and having Bar-B-Q’s on Memorial Day. When I asked my redneck neighbors why they are voting for Bush, they replied simply, "It’s the right thing to do." They feel the Bush agenda in their gut, like many in the Muslim world feel the UBL agenda in their gut. They feel someone is finally standing up for What’s Right. Problem is, it’s all Wrong.

Bush wanted, and the American people wanted, to avenge 9-11, to take revenge on someone, anyone, for this horrible attack. And they preferred to get as close to the source as possible. OK. So did UBL. He wants to avenge Muslim oppression by non-Muslims, as seen graphically in many venues, starting with Israel enacting their "final solution" on Palestinians by a slow denial of basic human rights, such as food and shelter and the right to remain un-bombed, and ending with Western support for despotic regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and anywhere else they can do it. But he can’t really realistically attack Israel or the Saudi Regime, although he has tried the latter. So he chose their supporters, the Next Best Thing: the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Bush, too, should have attacked the people he is really mad at - UBL himself, supposedly, and those who created him. Oops! The Americans "created him," just like they empowered and "created" Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War. UBL was one day one of our "freedom fighters" in the Afghan war against the USSR, our old nemesis. He wanted to be a freedom fighter again in the Kuwait-Iraq situation that led to Gulf War I. We screwed him then, but presumably secret pleas of his Bush Family Friends family, the rich and powerful Bin Ladens, kept him off-target for revenge.

Be that as it may, we chose the Next Best Thing, those who support UBL. That meant Afghanistan. But Iraq? That obviously had nothing to do with 9-11 any more than Israeli-style fascism has to do with the Holocaust (it’s not a fitting memorial, to say the least).
And their lies are so transparent it speaks very poorly of the American people that they actually believe this stuff. I mean, really. "Bombs for Democracy!"

So we can go into debt until we join the Third World in poverty, lack of education and crime. Put your money into guns! Now there’s a strategy for the future.

But alas, it’s just a lie.
Iraq was an invasion for oil and strategic power, no chaser. And that’s what makes UBL ultimately more trustworthy than the Bush Administration. At least he tells you what he’s doing. The Bush Administration, however, tells you the diametrical opposite. (Thanks, Machiavelli.) They obviously have no use for trust. They’ll leave that to Al-Qaeda and UBL. Someone you can count on. A good reference in tough times. The most trusted name in politics.