June 15, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas — Such comfort. At the close of the G-8 summit, described by President Bush as "very successful" (except we didn't get anything we wanted), the president offered us comfort on the uncomfortable topic of torture: "Look, I'm going to say it one more time. The instructions went out to our people to adhere to the law. That ought to comfort you."
"We're a nations of laws," he went on. "We adhere to laws. We have laws on the books. You might look at those laws, and that might comfort you."
There, don't you feel all better now? How comforting to know the Department of Justice memo on the subject of torture advises it "must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impaired bodily function or even death." (Memo available on washingtonpost.com.) Just beating the living crap out of someone doesn't count at all.
------Molly Ivins
Breakfast in Toronto
2011
Sometime in the Spring of 2011, a supporter of University College and Seminary in Toronto quietly organized an exclusive breakfast, on behalf of the college, with the intent of attracting new and wealthy donors. A distinguished speaker was retained. This fundraising event would take place off university grounds, and in accord with past precedent, there seemed to be no need to report any particulars to university students or alumni.
About a week before the event, on a Monday in September with classes now in session, an article appeared in the Toronto Star online and immediately became the talk of the tiny college:
Bush in Toronto on September 20, 2011.
Bush to make promotional appearance in Toronto for Christian college.
“The former U.S. president has a stopover in Toronto next week that will include a Sept. 20 breakfast gathering on behalf of Tyndale for an invited audience of 150 at the Hilton Toronto Hotel. Bush is expected to address the subject of Christian higher education.”
By Monday afternoon, the inquiries from students and alums were flooding the administrative offices of Tyndale. An administration spokesperson added this bit of information: "Tyndale supporter Prem Watsa, chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings and sometimes referred to as “Canada’s Warren Buffett,” is sponsoring the event, which is intended to raise the university's profile."
Critics found no comfort in the news. They were focusing on a letter from Lawyers Against War, dated August 25, 2011, sent to every offical in the Canadian government. This letter notes Bush's plans to enter Canada for an event in Surrey, BC on October 20, 2011. The letter reminds officials of Bush's status as a war criminal. Canada’s legal duty to deny Bush safe haven from prosecution can be acted on by: barring him entry into Canada; if Bush enters the country, Canada must then prosecute him for torture (and war crimes) or extradite him to a country willing and able to prosecute; and to prevent Mr. Bush from returning to the United States.
Critics accused Tyndale University of sacrificing its peaceful ideals in order to attract wealthy donors. The administration didn't refute or rebut the charge. When colleges need to raise money, they invite to incite the appetite.
Just three weeks ago, needing to sell his vile book, Dick Cheney took off his necklace of skulls and put on a suit to sit in front of television cameras, and the networks made us watch him smirk and squint for a weekend; evidently in agreement that someone needed punishing for his crimes against humanity but it wasn't Dick.
Back in Toronto, bloggers posted and planned; information was passed along like buckets of water in a fireline.
On Tuesday morning, a true moral authority put a pin in the problem and stuck it high so everyone could see. Arthur Paul Boers, endowed chair of Leadership at Tyndale Seminary, ran down his own list of crimes against the former president in a letter published in a Christian Week article:
My chief concern about George W. Bush was his use of faith. Early on, he employed “crusade” terminology. After September 11, he deliberately echoed words of Jesus, saying, “You’re either with us or against us.” On the first anniversary of September 11, in front of the Statue of Liberty’s flame he messianically proclaimed that the “ideal of America is the hope of all mankind.” Rewriting Scripture, he added: “That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.” He conflated the light of Christ with pompous American pretensions.
His carefully crafted remarks distorted sacred texts into words of mass deception. In a State of the Union address, Bush said: “There is power – wonder-working power – in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.” This time he rewrote a beloved hymn, substituting American qualities for “the precious blood of the Lamb.”
Such claims need to be tested for blasphemy and heresy. Yet few Christians raised questions, let alone criticisms. Instead we often complain about militant Islamic rhetoric. There is a theological term for that: hypocrisy.
All this from a country that pompously called one war campaign “Operation Infinite Justice.” Really? Let’s talk about justice. As no one has been convicted, I do not label anyone a war criminal. Yet George W. Bush ought to be investigated and held to account for: wrongful abduction and imprisonment without trial; employment of torture; tens of thousands of civilian casualties in Iraq (conservative estimates total 100,000); other civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Pakistan; invading Iraq on mistaken if not fraudulently deceptive grounds; gross human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere; and greater instability around the globe. (emphasis added)
The students and alumni and most faculty were comforted by Boers' letter. The administration was not, finally realizing that it had a big PR problem and that it didn't like activist faculty or students.
Rather than adressing the face of Boers' letter, the administration focused on its own truth: The new money was necessary for the university's future growth. Bloggers who continued to focus on the hypocrisy were immediately accused of being 'haters', 'un-Christian', and 'politically motivated'. Dan Oudshoorn was one of those attacked. You can read about his perspective here, on a website he created when the controversy began. It is fine example of light reading that makes you go dark inside.
Responding to the administration's prior secrecy, distortion of facts, refusals to address the protestors, and inviting a war criminal, an employee of the University resigned, calling it peaceful protest. The administration later called this person 'a valued employee' and admitted they regretted his departure. But on this Tuesday morning, the administration said only that it disagreed with the characterization of Bush as a war criminal.
No admissions, no apologies, attack with absurd arguments, first one to listen loses.
This strategy was so golden for Bush's eight years, I'm guessing Glenn Beck pressed it into coins to try to sell to seniors.
Tuesday afternoon, two students circulated a newly-created petition, which read in part:
"We believe no amount of new money can justify profiting from a former figurehead whose policies led to the murder of thousands of innocent civilians while invoking the name of Jesus. This is unacceptable."
The face of the petition read: Tyndale is hosting a war criminal.
On Wednesday morning, September 14th, Tyndale released this statement: "Unfortunately, due to scheduling change, the breakfast on September 20th 2011 has been canceled.”
Dan Oudshoorn posted this:
Seriously, if more than one hundred and fifty of the top CEOs across Canada are scheduled to meet with the former President of the United States are all of them – including that former President, who would be making six figures from the event – going to change their plans a week away from the event simply because a few dozen students started an online petition? Really?
And that started up another barrage of insults, obtuse defenses and attacks accusing Oudshoorn of continuing the controversy for his own ends, ruining Tyndale's good name in the process. Now Oudshoorn was the hypocrite. Offendeds everywhere were quick to change the angle of attack from a defense of Tyndale, to disapproval for all things Oudshoorn.
On September 20, the day the breakfast was supposed to have taken place, Oudshoorn posted this:
And then this appeared today: Wilf Dinnick, the CEO of OpenFile, tweeted that he was at the Toronto Hilton yesterday evening meeting with George W. Bush.
And then this just appeared: the Toronto Star confirmed that George Bush was, in fact, in town at the Hilton speaking with around two hundred CEOs.
And so exposing the thicker-than-blood gooey falsehoods binding Religion and Politics.
Oudshoorn was right after all. Give the man his due, right?
They still abused him, telling him to let it go. His obsession was ridiculous, personally motivated by hatred or jealousy; they weren't psychologists, but Dan, you need help! And, get it together, man. The rest of the world doesn't need to see us arguing in an un-Christian manner.
Molly Ivins wrote at the end of that 2004 column:
Also of great comfort is the National Catholic Reporter's story that during his visit to Rome, Bush told the Vatican's secretary of state, "Not all the American bishops are with me" on cultural issues. "The implication was that he hoped the Vatican would nudge them toward more explicit activism," said the Reporter. "While Bush was focusing primarily on the gay marriage question, he also had in mind others concerns, such as abortion and stem cell research."
The New York Times reported, "In his recent trip to Rome, President Bush asked a top Vatican official to push American bishops to speak out more about political issues." As Josh Marshall brightly observed: "I guess on one level we can say we've come a long way since 1960, when John F. Kennedy had to foreswear that he'd follow the instructions of the Pope in his decisions of governance. Today we have a Protestant born-again who tries to enlist the Pope to intervene in an American election." Ibid
Criminal, war criminal, unconvicted war criminal... Those are all just words, on a page, in a book. What matters is what's written on a person's heart. Only the Church can know it, no other authority is moral. George told us that when he started two immoral wars. His heart.
We don't know what's written on Shrub's hypocritical, heresied, blasphemous heart, but it's not "And The Truth Shall Set You Free."
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2011 Indictments
Bush is still scheduled to arrive in Surrey, BC on October 20, 2011. He has had a difficult year traveling internationally.
In February 2011, Bush cancelled a trip to Switzerland, where alleged victims of torture had intended to file a criminal complaint against him. An investigation implicating US officials in torture is underway in Spain. Documents made public by Wikileaks revealed that US pressure on Spanish authorities to drop the case has continued under the Obama administration.
In June 2011 Human Rights Watch published an extensive report concluding that members of the Bush administration had used torture and should be prosecuted. If the US government does not pursue credible criminal investigations, other countries should prosecute US officials involved in crimes against detainees in accordance with international law.
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Molly Ivins, you are missed.
Permanent Glory is a Dailykos group dedicated to the memory of Molly Ivins.
Wed Sep 28, 2011 at 6:31 PM PT: New tag: Molly Ivins