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WHY does Dick Cheney so desperately want the power to legally torture?
I fear that the explanation could actually a pretty straightforward connect-the-dots sort of thing...
1. George W. Bush (and perhaps Dick Cheney, too?) can legally declare anyone he wants an "enemy combatant", thereby effectively stripping them not only of their US citizenship (if they are a citizen to begin with, of course) but of even the most basic human rights.
2. He can then legally order US operatives to torture or kill them without the slightest fear.
It seems to me that this is a legal basis for rounding up, "disappearing", and torturing political opponents, uncooperative media types, and pretty much anyone else in the world. Such power is virtually...godlike.
