Shoot the Messenger - Investigate the Leak

Damn, they move fast when it's their butts on the line! Frist and Hastert are already calling for investigation into who leaked the existence of secret prisons. Now here's a lesson in Republican ethics: Where were these calls when Valerie Plame's name and occupation were being leaked to the press? Probably hidden behind the giggles and the whispers, "we got that sumbitch now." Where is the outrage at the manipulated intelligence leading up to the Gulf War? How about what it took to get a 9/11 commission?

And notice it's not an investigation into whether the prisons exist (although the demand for investigation into who leaked classified information pretty much implies their existence), but into who leaked the information. No need to investigate the crime, just the person reporting it. I can hear the swift boats warming up on the Potomac, ready to throw slime over the hero who reported this gross violation of American values.

Ironically, today, after the heat on our unfortunately elected leaders reached the boiling point, the Pentagon announced it was prohibiting torture of any detainees. This veteran thought it was already prohibited.

Related, the Senate rejected calls for a commission to investigate abuses of U. S. detainees in a 55-43 vote. Want to guess who comprised the majority? The Republicans don't want the facts to come out, be it on abuse of detainees, existence of secret prisons, intelligence manipulation, who established the drill-and-chill energy policy, Plamegate or any of the other abuses, conspiracies and crimes they've committed in the past five years. Instead, just shoot the messenger. Misdirect, misinform, mislead and mistake, that's the Republican leadership mantra as personified by George "Torturer in Chief" Bush, Dick "Vice Torturer" Cheney, Wayne Allard the Torturer, Donald "Weasel Word" Rumsfeld, and the remainder of the gang of uncommon criminals we have in power in Washington.

To think that we in America are actually having a serious debate over whether torture should be allowed. We do need a change in leadership.