It is Not Acceptable to be a Republican Anymore

It is Not Acceptable to be a Republican Anymore

READ MORE: Iraq, Dick Cheney, New York Times, CIA, Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush

I am growing more and more disgusted by anyone who remains a Republican anymore. We find out today that many of the false intelligence claims the administration made to get us into Iraq came from a man we tortured. It turns Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, one of the top al-Qaeda lieutenants we captured, made up stories about an al-Qaeda link to Iraq just so that we would stop torturing him.

Of course, he did. This is why every military officer they asked told the administration not to use torture -- because it is unreliable!

Technically, we didn't do the torturing here because we handed over al-Libi to the Egyptians so they could torture him. There is absolutely no difference there. There is only one reason in the world why we would hand over our top prisoner at that time to another country. Do you think it's because the Egyptians have a more sophisticated intelligence gathering apparatus? Do you think it's because the Egyptian justice system is better equipped to handle top level detainees?

The latest excuse the administration is using is pathetic. Egypt has a better grasp of the language and culture of these detainees. Al-Libi was the most senior al-Qaeda figure we had caught up until then. We couldn't find one translator in the whole United States of America who was up to the job? This administration couldn't find one person who was knowledgeable enough about Middle Eastern culture to interrogate our top detainee? If you're a Republican still going along with this bullshit, are you really this shockingly stupid and gullible?

But worse yet, the administration used the "evidence" the Egyptians gathered from al-Libi months after their own Defense Intelligence Agency told them it was untrue. The DIA warned them to not use the al-Qaeda-Iraq link because they had determined it was likely to be a fabrication. George Bush and Dick Cheney used it anyway months and years after they had been told by their intelligence agencies that it was not reliable.

Now why do you think that is? It's because they desperately wanted to go to war.

How many stories do you have to see about this before you get it through your thick head that they purposely picked the worst intelligence to make their case because they were going to war no matter what? The CIA told the administration just ten days after September 11th that there was no connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq. A Presidential Daily Briefing on September 21, 2001 explained at length that Saddam not only did not work with al-Qaeda but considered them a threat. And Dick Cheney goes around to this day insinuating a link.

How bad do these people have to be before your conscience kicks in? I hit that threshold about three years ago when I ran screaming from the Republican Party. I am beginning to believe anyone who remains after hearing this type of evidence against the administration is simply not a good person.

That seems like an over-the-top statement, but it really isn't. In fact, there is almost no other explanation. Who supports the use of torture? Who supports the unwarranted invasion of other countries based on intelligence we knew was made up? And who thinks we should use torture to get that bad intelligence so we can start that senseless war? Bad people.

The only defense Republicans have now is that they're ignorant. If you are ignorant of these facts, I feel sorry for you but I understand you have been manipulated and duped. But if you know these facts and you still support this administration, you are as guilty as they are and you are as un-American as they are.

This not only applies to members of the public who remain loyal to the Republican Party, but applies even more so to members of Congress who remain loyal to this administration. They cannot even feign ignorance. They have put allegiance to their political party over their allegiance to the core principles of this country.

There used to be a slogan during the McCarthy era -- better dead than red. I guess the new slogan is -- better Republican than American.

Torture is un-American. Wars of aggression, besides being war crimes, are un-American. Lying to the American people and to the world so that you can invade and occupy a country that didn't attack us is un-American. Believing the Egyptian justice system is better than the American justice system is un-American. Causing the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians (those are real people, real kids, real families just like your own) and thousands of American soldiers based on lies acquired through torture is un-American.

And if you still don't get this, you sicken me.