Randi Rhodes: Enough Torture Worship!

Rightwingers are all saying that torture led us to Osama bin Laden. This is a huge insult to the hard work of the intelligence agencies, the heroism of the Navy Seals and President Obama to say that the reason we got bin Laden was the work of a few sickos with a board and a wet rag. It’s more like President Obama getting bin Laden led to the torture of conservatives, not the other way around.

During the presidential campaign both Hillary Clinton and John McCain blasted Obama for saying he would go into Pakistan to take out bin Laden (video below). Two years later, Hillary Clinton got to sit in the room while he did it. And John McCain got a courtesy phone call telling him about it. In 2008 McCain said “You make plans and you work with the other country that is your ally and friend, which Pakistan is.” I have a feeling that if we worked with Pakistan on this one, we would have landed in a very empty compound. Candidate Obama said “if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out.” That tells you one thing—Osama bin Laden wasn’t watching the presidential debates in 2008.

Reactions to the killing of Osama bin Laden continue to pour in, from the sublime to the ridiculous, with the ridiculous being decidedly more strident. Rush Limbaugh says “The American left, the Democrat party of this country, the liberals… owe us an apology for taking every opportunity to undermine our efforts to track down bin Laden and other terrorists. Evidently, our efforts to undermine the search for bin Laden were not enough to prevent us from finding and killing bin Laden.

Well, it looks like Glenn Beck is the first one to fully formulate a new conspiracy theory to take the place of birtherism. Or should I say, co-exist with the remnants of birtherism? Glenn asks “Is it possible that Osama bin Laden was ghosted out of his compound, and that we’re seeing a show now?” Beautiful, Glenn. Now just tie it all in with Van Jones, ACORN, and Woodrow Wilson, and you’re on your way!

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