Now That We Know That They Knew

Since Bush’s bankshot into the Friday evening news dumpster that he had signed off on torture and that the top echelon of his administration had all sat in a closed room to learn about and rubber stamp all the details of our illegal and unsavory interrogation techniques, the press has continued to ask how Barack Obama should answer for preferring orange juice to coffee, not how Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, et al should answer for committing crimes against humanity after years of statements to the contrary.

ABC News, which originally broke the torture story ended its very short streak of un-patheticness when George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson dragged us through a debate filled with loaded questions that spoke to their Sunday morning circle jerks far more than to the concerns of the American people, and did not mention the torture issue once.

Now that we know that they knew, we should be holding the administration accountable for it, and demand that the press take a break from its how-will-it-play-narrative-meta drivel and actually cover the fact that top administration officials knew about torture and gave it a green light.

If that sounds like a good idea to you, go sign the ACLU’s petition to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate this, and hop on the letter-writing campaign asking local papers to cover this since the nationals have proven useless.

Sorry about the tome, sometimes it’s necessary. Here is our song (not our first on this matter) called “Now That We Know That They Knew”, about how we’d like to see some proof that no one is above the law and that the phrase “and justice for all” includes people at the top as well.



Now That We Know That They Knew

Now that we know that they knew
It’s what we all along suspected
It’s hardly unexpected but it’s now unquestionably true
So won’t you finally change the subject, stop obsessing over subtext
For a second fix your cameras to the proof
In the Friday data dumpster, for once demand an answer, maybe two
Now that we all know that they knew
There’s a clear-cut course of action
To respond to these infractions, yes it’s true
It’s way overdue

I’ve got no patience for fighters avoiding conflict like the plague
And I don’t believe in Hell so I thank God we’ve got the Hague
These kinds of crimes demand a certain action be pursued
There’s little time and oh so much to do
Now that we know that they knew

Now that we know that they knew
Can we just shut up for a second
There’s more important things that beckon than
A couple words so quickly misconstrued
Oh he got juice instead of coffee!
As the screaming echoes softly out of view
Is that the least you can do?

I’ve got no ear for language hypothetical and vague
And hell won’t get here quickly so let’s send them to the Hague
These kinds of crimes demand certain action be pursued
There’s little time and oh so much to do
Now that we know that they knew