The Obfuscation Report

by Occams Hatchet

The only thing we have to fear is -

- morons in the White House who think we're too stupid to figure things out for ourselves.

Let's play a little game. Use your imagination: See if you can picture Abraham Lincoln standing in front of the gathering at Gettysburg and uttering the following:

And that Common Article III says that there will be no outrages upon human dignity. It's very vague. What does that mean, "outrages upon human dignity"? That's a statement that is wide open to interpretation.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you -

Our Fearless Leader,

once again demonstrating a dogged relentlessness in seeking an answer to the question,

Just how stupid do you think the American people are?

President Bush has been frantic in his crazed attempt to escape prosecution under the Geneva Conventions - which, by the way, are not just some obscure, frou-frou Frenchified foreign law that applies only to dowdy, monocled European field marshals. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Tut, tut. No, unfortunately for Messrs. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales and various others in the chain of command of the War on Terror!®, the Geneva Conventions are The Supreme Law Of The Land. Uh, that would be this land, by the way. The U.S. of A.

Amurka.

Land of the free.

Home of the chickenhawk.

See, according to that goddamned piece of paper, the outdated document - nearly 200 years older than the antiquated FISA law - known as the U.S. Constitution,

Article VI. - Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

. . . This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land

Huh. Whaddaya know. What were those crazy mofos in those wack powdered wigs thinking?

So, here we are. If Gee Dubya (and anyone else in the chain of command) is in violation of the provisions of the Geneva Conventions - which the United States ratified in 1955 - they are in violation of U.S. law.

Which would explain why George W. Bush, realizing his precarious predicament, particularly should a Democratic majority take control of Congress as a result of November's elections, has been acting like a cornered animal.

To the point that he is now threatening the American people:

And I will resist any bill that does not enable this program to go forward with legal clarity. . . This is an important program for the security of this country. . . If there's not clarity, if there's ambiguity, if there's any doubt in our professionals' minds that they can conduct their operations in a legal way, with support of the Congress, the program won't go forward and the American people will be in danger.

Excuse me?

Are you threatening me?

Are you saying that you will discontinue interrogating dangerous terrorist detainees if you don't get a law passed that allows you to torture them, even if that would mean endangering the safety of the American people?

Do you mean to tell me that your administration is so inept that - unlike administrations dating back at least through Eisenhower's - you can't get information out of prisoners without torturing them? And that you'll stop interrogating them if you're not allowed to torture them?

Wow. That's quite a threat. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. I guess it means this:

Your concern for your legal hide (and the hides of your co-conspirators in the torture conspiracy) outweighs your concern for the safety of the American people.

Mr. President -

How dare you threaten me?

How dare you threaten the American people?

This cannot stand.