Haiku 031609

icy puddle
the squirrel jumps on
the sun


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CNN.com: "Cheney says Obama's policies 'raise the risk' of U.S. terror attack"

“Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Sunday defended the Bush administration's economic record, the invasion of Iraq and the treatment of suspected terrorists, warning that reversing its anti-terrorism policies endangers Americans. In a wide-ranging interview with CNN's ‘State of the Union,’ Cheney said the harsh interrogations of suspects and the use of warrantless electronic surveillance were "absolutely essential" to get information to prevent more attacks like the 2001 suicide hijackings that targeted New York and Washington.

" ‘President Obama campaigned against it all across the country, and now he is making some choices that, in my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack,’ he said.

“Critics said the Bush administration's ‘alternative’ interrogation techniques amounted to the torture of prisoners in American custody, while the administration's warrantless surveillance program violated federal laws enacted after the Watergate scandal. Since taking office in January, Obama has announced plans to close the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to halt the military trials of suspected terrorists there, and to make CIA officers follow the Army field manual's rules on interrogations….”

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.... One wonders: is there a policy to investigate allegations of war crimes having been committed in the course of the war in Iraq? Maybe an investigation to see if criminal charges are warranted -- shudder -- against Cheney, Bush, and other officials for torture, treason, and war profiteering?

Remember that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to begin with? Remember the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo black holes where alleged terrorists were detained without charges, for indefinite durations, and periodically and systematically tortured? Remember U.S. citizen-soldiers being cavalierly sent to war without proper armor and protective gear -- how can the Bush officials betray our own soldiers?

Remember Blackwater and Halliburton, Cheney's employers before he became vice-president, and how they flourished and cornered billion-dollar contracts in Iraq during the war? Aren't these enough to warrant charges of war crimes or at least to trigger further investigation of those apparently accountable? .... Just kidding =)