Glenn,

Do you remember when the Democrats said that any impeachment was "off the table?"

That action reinforces the American perception that if a thing has to do with "defense" or "national security" in any way then it is perfectly understandable that "rules will be bent."

The press is simply following the "conventional wisdom" in DC that our bipartisan foreign policy requires strong men to do the dirty work that we must have done to defend ourselves from the hoards of invaders massing on our boarders.

So, I agree the press is shameful in this instance; but it is most understandable since America seems to want it that way.

Did the media not yawn while the country was led to an illegal war? Oh, I forgot, they participated in the deceit.

And I am almost brought to tears every time I think about the media collective yawn.

Thanks Glenn.

How 'bout posting e-mail and snail mail addresses that could assist concerned Americans in forwarding .pdf or printed copies of this formal U.S. Senate Report (or copies of this important post) to the appropriate personnel tasked with prosecuting war crimes under international law at The Hague and elsewhere?

Not all Americans believe that vile, evil and rampant lawlessness is justifiable just because we are Americans, and not all Americans accept any suggestion by those currently in power here that would ignore such atrocities.

. . . but can't the world take notice? Is something this definitive grounds for a War Crimes trial against the Idiot Child-Emperor? Who can bring the charges and do they sell tickets and popcorn at the Hague?

Apparently the media has no idea on how to "sell" the story. When we were marching into Iraq the story was all win win win. Everyone wants to be on the winning side and rooting for the winning team.

And it turns out that there is no win in Iraq -- just different degrees of losing. So who wants to read about that? Even worse, the they have to say that leadership that prevailed in two elections are evil sonofabitches that YOU (and we) supported! You think corporate-owned media that can be felled with Janet Jackson's nipple has enough courage to run with a story like that?

Doesn't that mindset, rather obviously, substantially increase the likelihood -- if not render inevitable -- that such behavior will occur again?

Given the repeated crimes after pardons for Watergate and Iran/Contra, there can be no other answer than yes for this question.

Prosecution, not just investigation, not just exposure, is the only route to stopping this behavior. These guys absolutely will not stop until they are punished, and punished severely.

Never again in our name.

Glenn Greenwald asked in today's column:

how can it possibly be justified that the low-level Army personnel carrying out these policies at Abu Ghraib have been charged, convicted and imprisoned, while the high-level political officials and lawyers who directed and authorized these same policies remain free of any risk of prosecution?

A guest on "Bill Moyers Journal" over the weekend provides a pretty good answer. The guy should get his own blog. Maybe writes some books:

What you have is a two-tiered system of justice where ordinary Americans are subjected to the most merciless criminal justice system in the world. They break the law. The full weight of the criminal justice system comes crashing down upon them. But our political class, the same elites who have imposed that incredibly harsh framework on ordinary Americans, have essentially exempted themselves and the leaders of that political class from the law.

Link to Bill Moyers' TeeVee show at sig--

Although it went generally unobserved in the media, Bush's catlike grace on vivid display yesterday showed that, although no one would tell him so, at least he is subconsciously aware that he's guilty of something. The sneaky readiness, darting eyes, and trademark flight response to physical danger made me think of "Cell Block Tango" from "Chicago." He "had it coming" and he knew it.

It's ironic that in Iraq, which is oddly his own creation, is the only place he feels this way.

Back home, where the press knows its place, he quickly resorted to the cocky and dismissive phony we all know and love, telling Martha Raddatz, "So what?" about al Queda in Iraq, and claiming not to know what "beef" an Iraqi journalist might have with him.

At which point Raddatz ought to have been reaching for her own shoe, but, surprise, did no such thing.

Welcome home, Bush.

So many in America call those who worship differently barbarians. It is such a shame that no one holds the "man in the mirror" accountable.

But we should not worry. By turning our backs while our representatives are treating others inhumanely, can't we just say we are "turning the other cheek"? Won't that prove our immoral superiority to those we are trying to convert?

In all seriousness, on an almost more than daily basis, I read from Glenn about American democracy failing us, and failing the world. Is there a better way to organize, can we discuss solutions as well as problems?

Ideas? Hopes?

more commonly referred to as crucifixion

The attacks that occurred on 9/11 drove us to believe that any action against our enemies was justified.

To hell with the Geneva Convention and to hell with our democratic ideals. This is war, folks, and any means justifies the ends.

We failed the true test of a civilized and democratic society. Now, we can see more clearly how the German civilian population was cowed into ignoring (or accepting) the genocide of the Jews during WWII.

Many folks would say that to compare the two events is unfair. Millions of tortured and murdered is not the same as the crimes committed by our government, but that misses the point.

The point is that a line was crossed. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others suspended civil protections and laws in the belief that such action was justified. This is, and was, the same mindset that drove Hitler and countless other dictators throughout history.