Bush's Moral Wilderness

The Bush administration has hijacked our national moral compass. Far too many have gotten lost in the shady wilderness of its convoluted agendas.

"Worried CIA Officers Buy Legal Insurance" is the sobering headline in WaPo. Current and former intelligence officials caught in this wilderness "have signed up in growing numbers for a government-reimbursed private insurance plan that would pay their civil judgments and legal expenses if they are sued or changed with criminal wrongdoing."

They are worried about the controversy over the secret CIA prisons and detainee interrogations, and that "lawsuits will erupt if details of the agency's internal probe of wrongdoing related to the September 2001 attacks become public."

In this probe, it was recommended by the CIA inspector general that the actions of senior CIA officials be examined, but Bush's CIA director decided the report should remain secret.

Instead, last week the White House "called for Congress to approve legislation drafted by the White House that would exempt CIA officers and other federal civilian officials from prosecution for humiliating and degrading terrorism suspects in U.S. custody.

Why all of the maneuvering? The Bush mob may lose one or both congressional houses in November.... the light of justice would be reignited, and the scurrying begin.

A former CIA general counsel said he was deeply troubled that CIA officers have to buy insurance.... "There should be clear rules about what the officers can and can't do. The fault here is with more senior people who authorized interrogation techniques that amount to torture," not the officers who carried it out.

Amen.

The journey out of Bush's moral wilderness commences in November.