The Backroom Bigot
Ever since Bush was elected in 2000 I’ve been watching the media for mentions of David Addington, the evil genius tasked with finding ways to bend and/or ignore the law for Bushco. I had given up reading the New Yorker recently because they were annoying me, so thanks to Watertiger at Dependable Renegade for pointing to this profile of Addington in the latest issue:
Most Americans, even those who follow politics closely, have probably never heard of Addington. But current and former Administration officials say that he has played a central role in shaping the Administration?s legal strategy for the war on terror. Known as the New Paradigm, this strategy rests on a reading of the Constitution that few legal scholars share?namely, that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to disregard virtually all previously known legal boundaries, if national security demands it. Under this framework, statutes prohibiting torture, secret detention, and warrantless surveillance have been set aside. A former high-ranking Administration lawyer who worked extensively on national-security issues said that the Administration?s legal positions were, to a remarkable degree, ?all Addington.? Another lawyer, Richard L. Shiffrin, who until 2003 was the Pentagon?s deputy general counsel for intelligence, said that Addington was ?an unopposable force.?
Addington is one humourless, smallminded fucker.
He also has no compunction whasoever about turning America into a theocratic dictatorship – it suits his and his bosses’ political purpose. This article is a must-read if you want to know what unconstitutional outrage Bushco is likely to perpetrate next.
