Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Kenneth Roth is the embodiment of dishonest liberal journalism. In an opinion piece in the Washington Post yesterday, he argues that Bush should be prosecuted for "criminality" and "torture" in waterboarding terrorists.

Roth argues from false premises, that waterboarding terrorists was both torture and criminal. He then quotes the popular myth that Khalid Sheik Mohammed was waterboarded "183 times" in one month. Fox News investigated this claim some time ago and found that Mohammed was waterboarded only five times. Roth's repeat of this falsehood is irresponsible.  Further, he is nothing more than an Obama propagandist. He writes:

President Obama’s policy toward the Bush administration’s use of torture has been one of splitting the difference — Obama ordered an end to further torture but largely avoided investigating, let alone prosecuting, what Bush administration officials had done. For the Obama administration, the calculation was political: Stopping ongoing criminality by U.S. officials was non-negotiable, but delving into the criminality of his predecessor was deemed too costly. Obama had other priorities — fixing a devastated economy, enacting health-care reform — so dredging up the crimes of the previous administration was seen as too distracting and too antagonistic an enterprise when Republican votes were needed.
Notice Roth's dishonest argumentation: "Obama ordered an end to torture." But "torture" has not been proved, and Roth's statement sidesteps the need to substantiate this charge, hoping that the reader will simply take his word for it.

 Roth then says "dredging up the crimes of the previous administration," but no crimes have been proved or established. Again, Roth hopes the reader will simply accept his unproven premises.

I rebutted Roth in the comments section of the article, but my comments were quickly removed. Read Roth's dishonest propaganda here.

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