Torture controversy: It's not business. It's personal.

Many of those who are defending the Bush administration's use of torture (or, as they call it, "enhanced interrogation") have said that, since certain Democrats were briefed on the tactics to be used on detainees, those Democrats are culpable for any crimes that may have been committed. Nancy Pelosi or Jay Rockefeller or Harry Reid could be held accountable if they were briefed on techniques that constitute torture and raised no objections at the time, say the Bush apologists. Such arguments are intended to threaten the Democrats with "mutually assured destruction" should there be investigations and prosecutions of any Bush administration officials. "Be careful, Democrats," they say. "If there are prosecutions, it might get very, very messy."

Those who raise that contention are, of course, missing the point. By making this argument, they reveal that they view the entire torture controversy as just another partisan issue to be used to sway the fickle American public one way or the other. In short, business as usual.

But for those of us whom the media refer to as "the far left," those of us who demand a full investigation and accountability, it's not business. It's personal. For us, it isn't some partisan game to be played out on the talk radio and cable television shows. Nor is it, as Beast Cheney's hideous daughter, Liz, asserted recently on television, an effort to be "fashionable" by "taking the side of terrorists." This is about who we are as people.

The Beast knows this. He long ago made his decision for himself. I believe that when he authorized the torture memos, he knew full well that water-boarding and the other monstrous practices would not yield information about terrorist plots. I believe he knew exactly what torture was good for: extracting false confessions, getting people to say what he wanted them to say. Hence, we hear rumor that the CIA used torture to try to get detainees to admit to a non-existent link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Cheney, with his lies and exaggerations, had succeeded in getting his war. Next he needed to establish it as justified. Time to break out the water-board.

That's why he and his repulsive daughter are out there now. Big Dick fears he might be in real trouble. Spare me the "It's because he cares deeply about this country" bullsh*t. Dick Cheney cares about Dick Cheney.

Investigate! Prosecute! If there are convictions, imprison! And if Nancy Pelosi gets swept up in the net, so be it. It's not about Democrats or Republicans. And it certainly is not an expression of solidarity with murderers or terrorists.It is about revering the Constitution of the United States. It is about refusing to relent to the beast inside all of us that William Golding wrote about in Lord of the Flies.

It's not business. It's personal.