II.
But while Bush
and Co. strut and swagger with tough Cold War talk aimed at Russia, their
ongoing destruction of the American Republic continues unabated -- assisted, as
it has been every step of the way, by the very institutions that are meant to
preserve American liberty and keep a check on tyranny.
Winter Patriot has the goods on a recent federal court ruling
that absolves all government personnel of guilt for any crime they may commit on
the public payroll. As WP notes, the ruling goes beyond the "Nuremberg defense"
favored by Nazis and accomplices in crime and atrocity the world over -- "I was
only following orders" -- to add a whole new line of justification: "I was only
giving orders."
The ruling, by Appeals Court Chief Judge David
Sentelle -- a long-time right-wing apparatchik -- must be seen to be believed.
As Reuters reports:
Government employees who engage in questionable
acts, such as abusing prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility or engaging in
defamatory speech, cannot be held individually liable if they are carrying out
official duties, the court said.
"The conduct,
then, was in the defendants' scope of employment regardless of whether it was
unlawful or contrary to the national security of the United States," Appeals
Court Chief Judge David Sentelle wrote in the opinion.
WP's excellent analysis of the ruling and its
implications should be read in full. But here is a taste, from his
conclusion:
So let's recap, shall we? A Federal court has ruled that some of the highest
officials in our government are not accountable for their acts of treason, mass
murder, war crimes, and crimes against humanity -- not because they were
following orders (for surely some of them, especially Karl Rove and Dick Cheney
[photo], were giving the orders); not because they thought they were doing
something righteous or Blessed by God; but simply because they held positions in
the United States government -- regardless of
the fact that these actions violated the most serious federal and international
laws, regardless of the fact that they all knew their actions were deeply
illegal, and regardless of the fact that they were never legitimately elected to
those government positions in the first place -- or legitimately re-elected in
the second place.
Furthermore, the
court decrees, this immunity applies not only to the principals in this case but
to all manner of American government officials committing all manner of horrific
crimes -- including torturing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Did you get that?
Do you finally get it now?
And these are the people who preach to the world
about democracy and freedom and rule of law.