As Dick Cheney emerged from his cave in 2009 and began to overshare with the media about his approval of the Bush/Cheney Administration’s torture policy, I began to wonder what his motivation could possibly be. It’s certainly not what his lawyers would want him to do. It’s clear that the former vice-president is doing nothing to improve the current Republican situation: Everyone hates this guy (save the few folks on the far right who love Limbaugh and believe the earth is a mere 3,000 years old). So what’s the rationale?
In considering it, I think Cheney has one primary goal: Cheney wants the inevitable torture prosecutions to appear politically motivated. Right now, basically every day, Cheney is out in the press picking a fight with the Obama administration. He’s goading them into a fight. He’s kicking dirt on their shoes. Calling them ugly. Claiming the administration’s policies are hurting our security. He’s like a baseball manager coming up face to face with the umpire just begging to be thrown out of the game. He’s figuring the fans will interpret more anger and more hopping around angry as some sort of yardstick to help determine whether he’s right: they’ll believe that the more he argues the more likely the umpire is wrong.
And when the Cheney goes too far and the umpire has enough and tosses him out, perhaps people will only remember the comic display he’s putting on and not the fact that 3,000 Americans died on 9/11 on their watch. And thousands more died in their Iraq boondoggle. And Al-Qaeda is still a threat to the U.S. after all they did.
My personal belief is that given the evidence of the law being broken that has already been released, the Justice department must appoint a Special Prosecutor and be done with it. I think once those wheels are in motion, you’re not going to hear anything from the lawyered-up Cheney, Yoo, Bibey or the others in the Torture Cabal.
And Congress should pass on holding hearings as they can’t help themselves when they get in front of the camera. The idea of letting the idiots in Congress grandstand and pretend to police this issue after they basically rolled over for years is pathetic.
