{"id":213,"date":"2006-12-03T20:50:30","date_gmt":"2006-12-04T01:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/03\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\/"},"modified":"2006-12-03T21:10:09","modified_gmt":"2006-12-04T02:10:09","slug":"bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/03\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\/","title":{"rendered":"Bush&#8217;s Torture Ticking Time Bomb"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amconmag.com\">American Conservative<\/a><\/strong> ran my piece on the Military Commissions Act and how the torture scandal may finish off the Bush presidency in their December 18, 2006 issue.<\/p>\n<p>My impression is that the full article will be online soon.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the lead and conclusion:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sins of Commission<\/strong><br \/>\nBy James Bovard<br \/>\nHave Republicans become the party of torture, secret prisons, and indefinite detention? In his speech last month on signing the Military Commissions Act, President Bush declared that the bill \u201csends a clear message&#8230; We will never back down from the threats to our freedom.\u201d \u201cRough interrogation\u201d (a.k.a. torture) in the name of freedom may be Bush\u2019s clearest ideological legacy.<\/p>\n<p>Bush endlessly reminds listeners that \u201cthe U.S. does not torture\u201d and that \u201ctorture is not an American value.\u201d But \u201cWhat is torture?\u201d is the Bush version of the Pontius Pilate question. Bush appears to be using the definition of torture crafted by Justice Department official John Yoo: if detainees weren\u2019t maimed or killed, they weren\u2019t tortured. And the Justice Department acts as if, even if detainees are killed during interrogations, it is best to treat the deaths as harmless errors&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>President Bush has been able to seize nearly boundless power because his administration has been able to control what Americans know. But this control is crumbling. Democratic congressional investigations, court cases, and the military tribunals themselves could unearth far more damaging documents and photographs than anything seen thus far.<\/p>\n<p>The MCA is \u201c<strong>Enabling Act<\/strong>\u201d legislation that preserves the appearance of law while empowering the commander in chief to do as he pleases. Bush\u2019s torture policies may signal that he accepts the dicta of Richard Nixon: \u201cWhen the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.\u201d But the firewall of high approval ratings that buttressed Bush when the first Abu Ghraib photos leaked is gone. The media is exasperated with the administration\u2019s penchant for secrecy. Much of Bush\u2019s conservative intellectual bodyguard has given up the fight. It remains to be seen how much dunking, thumping, and cold water the Bush team can survive.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0James Bovard is the author of Attention Deficit Democracy and eight other books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American Conservative ran my piece on the Military Commissions Act and how the torture scandal may finish off the Bush presidency in their December 18, 2006 issue. My impression is that the full article will be online soon.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the lead and conclusion: Sins of Commission By James Bovard Have Republicans become the party [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bush&#039;s Torture Ticking Time Bomb - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/03\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bush&#039;s Torture Ticking Time Bomb - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The American Conservative ran my piece on the Military Commissions Act and how the torture scandal may finish off the Bush presidency in their December 18, 2006 issue. My impression is that the full article will be online soon.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s the lead and conclusion: Sins of Commission By James Bovard Have Republicans become the party [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/03\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-12-04T01:50:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2006-12-04T02:10:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"Bush&#8217;s Torture Ticking Time Bomb\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-12-04T01:50:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-12-04T02:10:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"commentCount\":5,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bush's Torture Ticking Time Bomb - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-12-04T01:50:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-12-04T02:10:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/12\\\/03\\\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bush&#8217;s Torture Ticking Time Bomb\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism &amp; Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bush's Torture Ticking Time Bomb - James Bovard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2006\/12\/03\/bushs-torture-ticking-time-bomb\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bush's Torture Ticking Time Bomb - James Bovard","og_description":"The American Conservative ran my piece on the Military Commissions Act and how the torture scandal may finish off the Bush presidency in their December 18, 2006 issue. 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