June 07, 2004

I don't believe this

Administration lawyers say President can ignore torture laws and treaties.

After defining torture and other prohibited acts, the memo presents "legal doctrines ... that could render specific conduct, otherwise criminal, not unlawful." Foremost, the lawyers rely on the "commander-in-chief authority," concluding that "without a clear statement otherwise, criminal statutes are not read as infringing on the president's ultimate authority" to wage war. Moreover, "any effort by Congress to regulate the interrogation of unlawful combatants would violate the Constitution's sole vesting of the commander-in-chief authority in the president," the lawyers advised.

From Lee Greenwood's song "God Bless the U.S.A.":

And I’m proud to be an American where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me. And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today. ‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the U.S.A.

Sorry, Mr. Greenwood, but with this revelation my pride has been diminished a bit.

Posted by Linkmeister at June 7, 2004 01:04 PM
Comments

Heh. For once, we quote different parts of a piece!

Posted by: Scott at June 7, 2004 09:24 PM

Well, it's a long piece!

Posted by: Linkmeister at June 7, 2004 10:07 PM

I can never hear the Lee Greenwood song without thinking "closing time at the country bar", since that's the only context in which I'd ever heard it before September 11th. It's almost like they'd made the Oscar Meyer Wiener jingle into an omnipresent patriotic anthem, to my ear anyways.

Posted by: Sue at June 8, 2004 07:15 AM

It's in the NYT today. What a travesty.

Posted by: Deborah at June 8, 2004 07:22 AM

Sue, I think the Republican party has co-opted that song for a couple of campaigns over the past few years.

Deborah, I'd say it's criminal, but the lawyers decided otherwise. Certainly the intent was criminal.

Posted by: Linkmeister at June 8, 2004 08:28 AM