Worse than Watergate: Bob Woodward's torture scoop
John Dean, the Watergate scandal figure who's enjoyed a second act as a civil libertarian, wrote a book a couple of years ago about the myriad abuses of the Bush administration called "Worse Than Watergate." That title begs the question of whether more aggressive journalism like that practiced during the Nixon years might have prevented some of Bush and Cheney's more outrageous offenses.
That's why it was striking to see the byline on the Washington Post's scoop this morning that a U.S. government official acknowledged that a high-level al-Qaida detainee was "tortured." The story was penned by Bob Woodward -- yes, that Bob Woodward, so maybe the circle really is closing.
We've covered this ground before, but if it can be proved in court that Mohammed al-Qahtani took part in the 9-11 plot, planning to kill innocent American secretaries and accountants in cold blood in the name of some kind of warped "holy" war, than what he deserves is harsh punishment, and what those people so tragically affected by the 2001 attacks is justice. But it needs to be American punishment and American justice, in the style that once made this nation a model for the rest of the world -- not the two-bit dictator tactics championed by Cheney and his minions.
Because now -- thanks to Cheney's Jack Bauer-inspired wet dreams -- it may be impossible to try al-Qahtani for 9/11:
Who's ultimately to blame for this travesty? Crawford made it clear to Woodward -- she said: "I think the buck stops in the Oval Office." And now Barack Obama is going to leave it crumpled up on the floor.