Now That We Know That They Knew

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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 these sounds like a good ideas to you, please take a second to 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.

So, here's 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

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Max and the Marginalized are a blog in the form of a rock band that records a new song every week and posts on Thursdays. They play shows and tour regularly - for more info visit their outposts:
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Comments

[fighouse]

02:16 PM on 04/17/2008

At least someone is talking about this-real issues- instead of about American flag pins.

[JulieSA]

01:44 PM on 04/17/2008

Congressional leadership from both parties signed off on it too. Perhaps the media don't want to go after Democratic congressman.

[MaxMarginal]

01:48 PM on 04/17/2008

They should have a lot to answer for as well, but they weren't among the small group in that room watching the demonstrations of all the techniques and saying "It's your baby. Go do it" (i think that's the correct Condi quote.)
-Max

[magen]

01:20 PM on 04/17/2008

So now its a "known known" that the highest levels of our govt approved torture.

Your next song should be "Presidential Pardon" cause we're never gonna see any justice.

We'll see a lot of Just-us though.

[pchdriver]

01:06 PM on 04/17/2008

Preach it!

[fairwitness]

12:19 PM on 04/17/2008

And justice for all...indeed. Prosecute the whole lot of them immediately. Nothing could do more to right the course of this country.

[Shortyfuse]

11:54 AM on 04/17/2008

At last. The thing that made the peace movement of the 1960s and got us through to depression years was music that let us know we were not alone in our plight. Thank you young man. Think your song will be on Clear Channels?