The ACLU has called on Congress to “demand the appointment of an Independent Counsel” to investigate the “approval of the use of torture” by the Bush Administration. The claimed facts are unsourced. And compared to the ACLU’s silence during Democrat Administrations, this attack is nothing more than partisan politics masquerading as protection of the Constitution.

The facts for this article should be taken with a grain of salt, since they come from the ACLU’s own website. The legal conclusions are, of course, developed for this website, for the American Civil Rights Union.

The ACLU issued a press release on 12 April, calling for “the appointment of an Independent Counsel to investigate the Administration’s approval of torture and abuse.” The ACLU claims that “recent reports indicate that high-level advisers including Dick Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet were part of the National Security Council’s ‘Principals Committee’ that met regularly and approved the CIA’s use of ‘combined’ ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques….”

Note the lack of attribution. What reports? From what sources? With what level of prior reliability, or unreliability?

Then, there is the content of the claim. “Combined” interrogation techniques could consist of nothing more than keeping the lights on AND playing Barry Manilow records at the same time. (That would be the Noriega method.) The ACLU continues to attack water-boarding as forbidden torture, without noting that the members of America’s Special Forces are themselves water-boarded during their training, to help them sustain themselves should they be captured by the enemy. The ACLU has never said a word against the training of the Special Forces. Perhaps they know better than to pick a fight with the best and best-trained of the American military.

The ACLU goes directly from unsourced charges to its own, firm belief that the US has both approved and used “torture.” It quotes Anthony D. Romero, its Executive Director. as saying, “We have always known that the CIA’s use of torture was approved from the very top levels of the U.S. government….”

Toward the end of its demand, the ACLU finally gets specific. It wants Congress to call for the Independent Prosecutor. However, the recent reactions of Congressional leaders to calls for impeachment of, variously, President Bush and Vice President Cheney, indicate the fate of this demand. When a handful of back-bencher Democrats demanded impeachment action, the Democrat leaders made it clear that no such steps would be taken. The same will be the fate of this demand by the ACLU.

It is interesting, however, to note the silence of the ACLU concerning similar situations in the past. It issued no demands during WW II for any actions by President Roosevelt, including opening and reading all overseas mail. It issued no demands for investigation when President Clinton ordered bombing in Bosnia, without any authority from Congress “to use military force.”

It seems that the ACLU is a Democrat organization. Actions by Democrat Presidents with the stated intention of protecting the American people, will not be noted or opposed. However, similar actions by Republican Presidents will be attacked as illegal and unconstitutional. And if the ACLU attacks succeed, the result will be the deaths of Americans, both civilians and military.

Source for original story on the Net:

https://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/34879prs20080412.html