39 Months

Speaking in Panama yesterday, Bush asserted that "We do not torture."

So why has he threatened to veto a bill that bans something we don't do?

Huh. Logic was never one of the president's strong suits.

The torture policy didn't originate with Dubya, though. Colin Powell's former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, claims the policy came out of Cheney's office. Bush was merely dumb enough to defend it and assign lawyers like Gonzales and John Yoo to write up rationalizations for it.

U.S. policy on treatment of prisoners is now being dictated by Cheney, a lunatic whose crimes against humanity place him squarely among history's monsters. Take a good look at Cheney's face, and you'll see echoes of his predecessors: the imbecile fanaticism of Hitler; the frozen-hearted brutality of Josef Stalin; the glassy-eyed rage of Vlad the impaler.

The American public, to its credit, supports neither Cheney nor his torture policy (his approval rating is now 19 percent). We may be collectively dumb enough to be hoodwinked by right-wing propaganda, especially during those times when a 24-hour tidal wave of second-hand lies (as in the run-up to Iraq) from corporate media are its vehicle. But as a people, we're apparently just not ready for blatant fascism.

There are 39 months left in the Bush administration's second term. I don't see how they'll ever be able to complete it, but on the other hand, I don't see any workable means for getting rid of them.