Is Texas Harboring Torture Decider?
Ray McGovernEditor’s Note:
Prior to giving a series of talks in Texas later this week, the author offered
the following op-ed to the Dallas Morning News and the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram.
Both newspapers in George W. Bush’s home state turned it down.
Seldom
does a crime scene have so clear a smoking gun. A two-page presidential
memorandum of Feb. 7, 2002, leaves no room for uncertainty regarding the
“decider” on torture. His broad-stroke signature made torture official
policy.
This should come as no surprise. You see, the Feb. 7, 2002,
memorandum has been posted on the Web since June 22, 2004, when then-White House
Counsel Alberto Gonzales mistakenly released it, along with other White House
memoranda.
The title seemed innocent enough – “Humane Treatment of al
Qaeda and Taliban Detainees” – but in the body of the memo President George W.
Bush authorized his senior aides to withhold Geneva Convention protections from
suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban detain