Liz Cheney, Asshole of the Day for August 5, 2014
On Friday the Obama administration released a report showing that America did torture detainees under the Bush administration. It is a fact.
It is also a fact that torture doesn't work. The Senate report says it doesn't work, and John McCain who was tortured during the Vietnam War also says it doesn't work.
But that's not good enough for some people. Liz Cheney thinks it's disgraceful that Obama is even investigating torture:
"This president is an utter disgrace. He’s got a situation where, as your last two reports showed, you’ve got crises erupting around the world. And he is expending more time, more energy, more passion, more aggressive activity in targeting and going after patriots, heroes, CIA officers and others who kept is safe after 9/11," Cheney said on Fox News' Hannity.
"He’s lying about what they did, he’s slandering them, he went to Cairo and did it in 2009. Today he did it from the podium of the Oval Office. It’s a disgrace. It’s despicable," Cheney continued.
She says two things here: The first is that Obama shouldn't be examining or discussing our history of torture because the world isn't safe. The second is her claim that Obama is lying and slandering by claiming the US tortured people. On the second she is demonstrably wrong-- the report proves we tortured.
But it's her first assertion that is more novel and worth examining. There's "crises erupting around the world", and this should keep Obama from ever investigating or talking about torture. Really. Too many things happening? Look, there will always be an excuse not to explore our own actions, but we must. It is fair to try to contest the conclusions from the investigation or decisions that result, but that doesn't mean it's legitimate to not ever have inquiries.
If this reasoning sounds familiar, it's because she's basically saying it's TOO SOON to talk about torture. I'm sure you're familiar with that argument-- it goes like this:
- Horrific shooting occurs
- It’s too soon to talk about gun control because of [insert most recent horrific shooting here].
- Nothing gets done
- Shootings keep happening since nothing gets done
- New shootings result in further delays in discussing or getting things done
- …and so on
It's become so routine that I made this chart:
And how does it apply here? Well, according to Liz Cheney, the too much is happening to talk about torture. So we never stop torturing or examine whether we should stop. And because we keep torturing, then we keep creating new enemies who hate America, in part because we torture. And those enemies attack, which means we can’t talk about torture again yet. Here's the chart:
This is why the TOO SOON argument is so offensive to me, and why every time I hear it I think they might as well be saying:
It’s too soon to talk about gun control after JFK got shot!
It’s too soon to talk about torture after 9/11!
TOO SOON.
TOO SOON.
TOO SOON.
Nope. Repeating it in ALL CAPS doesn’t help either. It’s time to talk about torture, Liz Cheney. A report has been done. We need to talk about it. American needs to own up to the fact that
- torture doesn’t work
- America tortured under Bush and Cheney
And Obama has made it clear that he doesn’t plan to hold anyone accountable criminally for what they did, not even Dick Cheney:
Even before I came into office, I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right, but we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values. I understand why it happened. I think it's important when we look back to recall how afraid people were after the twin towers fell and the Pentagon had been hit and the plane in Pennsylvania had fallen and people did not know whether more attacks were imminent and there was enormous pressure on our law enforcement and our national security teams to try to deal with this. And, you know, it's important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job that those folks had. A lot of those folks were working hard under enormous pressure and are real patriots, but having said all that, we did some things that were wrong. And that's what that report reflects.
We need to face up to what was done. The report is the first step. But Liz Cheney doesn’t want us to admit we tortured or that it doesn’t work. And for that, she is the Asshole of the Day.
It is Liz Cheney's second time as Asshole of the Day. Her previous time was for pushing to deny her own sister the same marriage rights that she herself enjoys.
Full story: Talking Points Memo
