1115.org

Once upon a time it was inconceivable that we would proudly torture prisoners in our custody. John Yoo conceived it. Alberto Gonzales conceived it. Donald Rumsfeld conceived it. Dick Cheney conceived it. George Bush conceived it. And they got a lot of otherwise normal people to conceive it too. To their eternal collective shame.

Once upon a time it was inconceivable that we would proudly kidnap people we suspected of wrongdoing, stick them in secret gulags and torture them to our heart’s content. Alberto Gonzales conceived it. George Tenet conceived it. Dick Cheney conceived it. George Bush conceived it. And they got a lot of otherwise normal people to conceive it too. Including people in foreign governments, who can’t even plead blind loyalty to their dear leader as a rationale. To their eternal collective shame.

Once upon a time it was inconceivable that we would openly spy on our own citizens without warrants. Alberto Gonzales conceived it. Gen. Michael Hayden conceived it. Dick Cheney conceived it. George Bush conceived it. And they got a lot of otherwise normal people to conceive it too. To their eternal collective shame.

Now George Bush desperately wants you to conceive that when Gen. Stanley McChrystal, chief of the Army’s Special Operations Command sent a cable to Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, “only a week after Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan”, suggesting that President Bush and other senior officials should be informed immediately that Tillman had probably been killed by friendly fire, lest they embarrass themselves by publicly claiming otherwise, Bush wants you to conceive and believe that when Gen. McChrystal sent this cable, Gen. John Abizaid decided the best thing for him to do was to just sit on the information, and inform nobody. That that’s what he saw as his military duty to his commander-in-chief.

Bush wants you to conceive and believe this, because it is inconceivable that Bush was informed and he did not immediately take steps to inform the Tillman family (“who were finally informed four weeks later”).

You see, Gen. McChrystal’s cable, “which was obtained by the Associated Press, does not prove that Abizaid informed Bush or his aides. White House spokesman Blain Rethmeier said Friday that there is no record indicating Bush was advised of McChrystal’s concerns.”

No record at all, huh? Amazing!

That allows Bush to invite you to conceive and believe that which might ordinarily strike you as totally implausible. You see, there ain’t no proof to the contrary. And the proof of the pudding is only in the eating. So if someone ate up the proof, there isn’t even any pudding.

McChrystal’s memo, dated April 29, 2004, warned Abizaid of “the unconfirmed but suspected reports that (President Bush) and the secretary of the Army might include comments about Corp. Tillman’s heroism and his approved Silver Star medal in speeches currently being prepared.”

McChrystal suggested that the White House be informed “in order to preclude any unknowing statements by our country’s leaders which might cause public embarrassment if the circumstances of Corp. Tilman’s death become public.”

In a speech May 1, two days after the memo was sent, Bush lauded Tillman yet made no reference to the manner in which he died.

Almost as if he had been warned, huh? (Just ask yourself this: Has this President ever seen an opportunity to exploit this war for political purposes that he didn’t like, that he didn’t jump all over? The only time he exhibits any kind of restraint whatsoever is in the speech he makes 2 days after McChrystal’s warning?)

The crowning irony? McChrystal is one of the 9 officers who are to be held accountable for what were earlier described as “critical errors” in reporting the facts of Tillman’s death. Abizaid is not.

The report recommended that McChrystal and eight other officers be held accountable for errors in reporting the friendly fire death to their superiors and to Tillman’s family. But the report did not mention Abizaid as being at fault, nor did it explore the Tillman family’s allegations that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or White House officials had orchestrated the cover-up.

The memo revealed Friday was not included in the documents released with Monday’s report. Pentagon spokesmen did not return calls Friday seeking explanation of why the memo was excluded — or whether other relevant documents also had been withheld.