We Can Handle the Truth

Is it really that surprising that the CIA destroyed evidence of their use of torture? If anything, their actions are normal and acceptable in this day and age. Our president and his administration have invoked executive privilege at every turn. Karl Rove deleted many White House e-mails, some of them possibly incriminating, because hell, he didn't know he wasn't supposed to. The Bush Administration, among other things, has been marked with deceit, secrecy, and at times flat out lies. Why should it be so surprising, then, to see these characterstics spread to other government agencies?

Scott McClellan, the former White House Press Secretary, is now saying he was told to spread lies about the outing of Valerie Plame. Not only that, but McClellan is saying he was told by some of the highest-level members of the Bush Administration, including President Bush himself.

The CIA claims the tapes were destroyed to protect the identities of the torturers, or as the CIA calls them, the interrogators. So why didn't they protect the identity of Valerie Plame when she was still working undercover in another country?

The Bush Administration is lucky to have had someone as loyal as Lewis Libby in its ranks. He was willing to take all of the blame and not open his mouth. Luckily for Libby, Bush commuted his prison sentence and will almost certainly pardon him at the end of his term, wiping his record clean, as if nothing ever happened. Libby is actually being rewarded for his deception. After all, it was the least the administration could do for him after they threw him in front of the bus.

People seem to be surprised that the CIA destroyed footage of their agents torturing a suspect. To me, it sounds like just another day at the office.

Our next president must be one who is open and honest with the American people. Hillary Clinton speaks of her vast experience gained during her time as first lady, yet she has had a hand in sealing the documents that explain what she was involved in during her time at the White House. Rudy Giuliani had his girlfriend AND his wife protected, and in some cases chauffeured, by government employees at the same time, and the taxpayers who funded it are only finding out a decade later.

Despite what Jack Nicholson has to say, the American people can handle the truth. The truth, unfortunately, is not a privilege our government is willing to share with us.