Cheney: Condemned out of his own mouth

Scott Horton, lawyer, writing on Harper's Magazine:

"Did Cheney Confess to a Felony? It looks that way to me. In an interview conducted with ABC News’s Jonathan Karl yesterday, Vice President Cheney was probed on his role in the Bush Administration’s torture program. His answers were in part extremely disingenuous, but he did acknowledge a key role in the decision to torture one prisoner. Here’s the key passage:

KARL: Did you authorize the tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

CHENEY: I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn’t do. And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it.

KARL: In hindsight, do you think any of those tactics that were used against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others went too far?

CHENEY: I don’t."

Horton rightly concludes:

"So Cheney confessed on television to a serious crime. It is now a crime committed in plain view. He is daring the public to take notice and do something about it. His remarks betray his disdain for the American justice system and of the new team preparing to take office in Washington. Cheney is convinced that in Washington power matters more than principle and law. That, Cheney supposes, is his legacy. And he may be right."

Read the complete piece, and see a video of an interview with a law professor on the Cheney "confession", here.

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