“Your government is openly torturing people, and justifying it.”
Bush snuck in a disclaimer to the McCain Anti-Torture Bill. At the
end of December when no one was paying attention, Bush issued a signing
statement vowing to carry out the bill “in a manner consistent with the
constitutional authority of the
President to supervise the unitary executive branch and as Commander in
Chief and consistent with the constitutional limitations on the
judicial power.” In other words, he can ignore it whenever he wants to.
Such an open declaration of “executive authority” to torture reveals
much about the nature of this regime and how it sets the rules (or lack
thereof). The McCain Bill already provided enough loopholes and
immunity from prosecution for the same torture to continue. But like
the FISA courts, this just isn’t enough for a regime set on torturing,
spying, and much more without any obstruction.