Cheney's Pro-Torture Stance

Proving once again how at odds with commonly held values he is, the Washington Post reports today (following up on the reports of secret CIA prisons from last week) that Dick Cheney has been the official most responsible for culling efforts to restrict the treatment of detainees. To connect with the story of secret CIA prisons, Cheney has pushed for the McCain Amendment banning torture to exempt the CIA. Bush has opposed the amendment and has threatened to veto the defence appropriations bill it is attached to if it survives the conference committee (it is not currently in the House version of the bill). Cheney's opposition to torture has been pulled once again to the forefront by his appointment of David Addington to the position of his chief of staff, Scooter Libby's job before he resigned after his indictment. Addington has been instrumental not only in creating the excessive secrecy and drive for increased executive power that has characterized the Bush Administration, he also was instrumental in creating the Bybee memos for then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzaless. The Bybee memo called the Geneva Conventions 'quaint' and provided the legal justification for the use of torture of prisoners. It is a positive development that the McCain Amendment passed the Senate 90-9 and the veto threat is hardly credible (Bush has never vetoed a spending bill), but a cloud of pro-torture memos and lobbying hangs over the office of the vice president.