What will the Republicans do now?
The man that they declared over and over was above criticism, General David Petraeus, has now gone on record contradicting the chickenhawk heads of the Republican party: Cheney, Limbaugh, and Gingrich.
In an interview with Radio Free Europe, Petraeus said that the U.S. should follow the Geneva Conventions that ban torture (that treaty included the prohibition of "waterboarding" a.k.a. water torture).
He also said that it's a good idea to close the Guantanamo prison.
Excerpt from the interview below:
RFE/RL: As you know, General, the debate over Guantanamo and enhanced interrogation techniques has become "Topic A" in Washington. In your view, does the closing of "Gitmo" and the abandonment of those techniques complicate the U.S. mission in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the overall struggle against violent transnational extremist groups or does it help it?
Petraeus: I think, on balance, that those moves help it. In fact, I have long been on record as having testified and also in helping write doctrine for interrogation techniques that are completely in line with the Geneva Convention. And as a division commander in Iraq in the early days, we put out guidance very early on to make sure that our soldiers, in fact, knew that we needed to stay within those guidelines.
With respect to Guantanamo, I think that the closure in a responsible manner, obviously one that is certainly being worked out now by the Department of Justice -- I talked to the attorney general the other day [and] they have a very intensive effort ongoing to determine, indeed, what to do with the detainees who are left, how to deal with them in a legal way, and if continued incarceration is necessary -- again, how to take that forward.
But doing that in a responsible manner, I think, sends an important message to the world, as does the commitment of the United States to observe the Geneva Convention when it comes to the treatment of detainees.
General Petraeus directly contradicts the Cheney-Limbaugh-Gingrich line. There is no doubt about it.
Now what, Republicans? Will Petraeus be given the same shabby treatment you gave Colin Powell?
Remember, any criticism of David Petraeus was called treason by your party not too long ago. Will you show yourselves, for the 7 millionth time, to be shameless hypocrites by going after Petraeus now that he's publicly disagreed with your leaders?
Will you yet again show America that the rules of being a patriot, according to the Republican party, mean only one thing: serving the Republican party?
I'm guessing you will. There's never been a level of shamelessness so low that you can't manage to sink to it.