Dick Cheney Torture Memo Swept Under Rug

Why isn’t the media talking about it?  Hard to say, Pensito Review had a rather scorching account about the matter and offered this little tidbit:

Five years from now, reporters will write books on why they chose to ignore the story of Cheney’s drafting of these immoral, unethical and un-Constitutional torture guidelines. Let’s all vow not to buy those books.

While the article on Cheney and the lack of media attention is intended to generate buzz or outrage over the issue, as well it should, he has a good point about profitability.  No matter what happens, someone is going to find a way to profit off of evil deeds.  As this Bush administration and his buddies in the oil industry have found record profits over the illegal Iraq War, even the so-called “good guys” are going to find much of the same when they decide to break their silence.

Getting to the heart of the matter, why did only a few media outlets decide to run with the story and were their accounts harsh enough to compel the competition to react?  Up until now, the criticism has gone on deaf ears, so maybe not.

As Pensito points out:

On Saturday, the Washington Post published a story on page A03 about Bush’s confirmation that he authorized torture, but it has not been covered in the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times. The drafting of the torture guidelines by senior Bush officials was not mentioned during random samplings of cable news broadcasts over the weekend — not even in the headline crawl at the bottom of the screen.

This should be a big story. Leaving aside the fact that torture is immoral, unethical and counter-productive, the drafting of guidelines for torture techniques was simply illegal — or, more to the point, unconstitutional:

You’ll find no shortage of bloggers and special-interest magazines writing about the issue, but it seems the media is either afraid to speak or under direct orders not to criticize this administration.  If the latter is the case, how is living in the United States any different from our red communist China allies who we so staunchly criticize over speech issues and aggressive government control.

Fred Soto is an Attorney and Entrepreneur from the Silicon Valley.
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