From Lincoln to Cheney

Andrew Sullivan has a great post over at his blog about yesterday's Fox News (is that an oxymoron?) interview with Darth Cheney. I'll repeat the brief post here because it's so good and stunning in its implications...

Cheney Endorses Torture Even Beyond His Own Limits

by Andrew

Here's the salient quote from the Fox "interview" with former journalist, Chris Wallace:

WALLACE: So even these cases where they went beyond the specific legal authorization, you're OK with it?

CHENEY: I am.

The former vice-president of the United States is here backing torture techniques that even his own hack lawyers believed were illegal. He is basically saying that the law had no salience or relevance in his program of torturing prisoners. He is attacking the rule of law in its entirety. Let that sink in: we had a vice-president who had contempt for the rule of law.

At moments like these, when a war criminal is given a totally supine platform to spew propaganda, it's worth recalling the following quote from 1863. It's from Abraham Lincoln:

"Military necessity does not admit of cruelty nor of torture to procure confessions."

From Lincoln to Cheney, from a lawyer president to a lawless thug.