MCCAIN ON ‘BAD ADVICE’…. On CBS’s “Face the Nation” this morning, John McCain dismissed the entire idea of criminal wrongdoing in relation to the Bush administration’s torture policies. “No one,” McCain said, “has alleged ‘wrongdoing’” on the part of former administration officials. He added, “We need to put this behind us. We need to move forward.”
In the same interview, however, McCain also said this:
“[Bybee] falls into the same category as everybody else as far as giving very bad advice and misinterpreting, fundamentally, what the United States is all about, much less things like the Geneva Conventions. Look, under President Reagan we signed an agreement against torture. We were in violation of that.”
Right, we were in violation of that. It’s kind of the point of the debate.
The problem, then, is with John McCain’s definition of “wrongdoing.” As Metavirus noted, the reference to the agreement endorsed by Reagan was the United Nations Convention Against Torture, signed in 1988. The Bush administration, McCain conceded, was “in violation of that.”
Given this, it sure would be helpful if McCain could clarify matters for us. McCain believes Bush administration officials aren’t guilty of “wrongdoing,” so there’s no need for any kind of investigation. McCain also believes Bush administration officials violated U.S. and international law.
So, I’m curious — what, exactly, does McCain consider “wrongdoing”? And why should U.S. officials deliberately ignore evidence of violations of the law?
