Hastert likes torture almost as much as he likes cheese fries

It has been well documented in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The New York Times (to name a few places) that the United States has routinely been sending individuals they deem suspicious to other countries to be tortured.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert believes sending people who have not been convicted of a crime to other countries to be tortured is ok:
“Because,” said Mr. [Pete] Jeffries (his press spokesman), “U.S. taxpayers should not necessarily be on the hook for their judicial and incarceration costs.”
Journalist Bob Herbert has this to say about Jeffries’ response:
“It was, perhaps, the most preposterous response to any question I’ve ever asked as a journalist.”
Give Hastert and Jeffries a call and tell them torture is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Pete Jeffries: 202-225-2800
Dennis (as fat as humanly possible) Hastert: 202-225-2976
Here’s the full NY Times article:
Published by the New York Times (2-28-2005)
It’s Called Torture
by Bob Herbert
As a nation, does the United States have a conscience? Or is anything and everything O.K. in post-9/11 America? If torture and the denial of due process are O.K., why not murder? When the government can just make people vanish – which it can, and which it does – where is the line that we, as a nation, dare not cross?
When I interviewed Maher Arar in Ottawa last week, it seemed clear that however thoughtful his comments, I was talking with the frightened, shaky successor of a once robust and fully functioning human being. Torture does that to a person. It’s an unspeakable crime, an affront to one’s humanity that can rob you of a portion of your being as surely as acid can destroy your flesh.
Permalink » 4 Comments » by freewilliamsburg Tuesday, March 1st, 2005, 11:06 am





