Bush administration saw law as unaffordable ‘nicety’
In the midst of a spirited defense of the Bush administration's intentions in developing interrogation techniques, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dropped a phrase that liberals may seize upon.
The Bush administration did not commit any crimes, Graham said, but "they saw the law as a nicety we could not afford." That's a view that squares pretty well with liberals' view that the Bush administration circumvented the law to reach conclusions it desired.
Graham, who said he disagreed with the Bush administration's legal rationale for waterboarding, nevertheless accused Democrats of politicizing the interrogation debate and attempting to criminalize their policy differences with Bush officials.
"The difference between the nobility of the law and a political stunt may be soon evident one way or another," Graham said. "And I don't know if this [hearing] is actually pursuing the nobility of the law."
Great comment from "A Hermit" below the article:
Of course this is political; and it should be. When you have political leaders whose policies depend on viewing the law as a mere "nicety" to be ignored when inconvenient then they need to be held accountable, not just legally but politically as well. Those who, out of cowardice or a lust for power or both, ignored the law and the people who supported them in their lawbreaking should be exposed as publicly as possible so future politicians will think twice before following their disgusting example.
