'Beyond the pale'

Another fan of the administration stands up to be counted.

Former CIA chief Stansfield Turner lashed out at Dick Cheney on Thursday, calling him a "vice president for torture" that is out of touch with the American people.

Turner's condemnation, delivered during an interview with Britain's ITV network, comes amid an effort by Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, to pass legislation forbidding any U.S. authority from torturing a prisoner. McCain was tortured as a Vietnam prisoner of war.

Cheney has lobbied against the legislation, prompting Turner to say he's "embarrassed that the United State has a vice president for torture. I think it is just reprehensible."

Turner, a retired Navy admiral who headed the intelligence agency from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter, stood firm on his earlier remarks Friday and, in a CNN interview, scoffed at assertions that challenging the administration's strategy aided the terrorists' propaganda efforts.

"It's the vice president who is out there advocating torture. He's the one who has made himself the vice president in favor of torture," said Turner, who from 1972 to 1974 was president of the Naval War College, a think tank for strategic and national security policy.

[snip]

Torture diminishes the country's image and moral stature, forcing other nations to look at the United States "in a very different light," Turner said, adding that such tactics also open the door to retribution.

"We military people don't want future military people who are taken prisoner by other countries to be subjected to torture in the name of doing just what the United States does," he said.

[snip]

"Torture is beyond the pale. It is going too far," Turner said.

Aaah, what does a retired Navy admiral and former CIA chief know about protecting this country? What does a former president of the Naval War College know about conducting a war? Who is he to second-guess Dick "Other Priorities" Cheney?

I'm tired of having a cartoonish movie bad guy sitting in the office of the Vice President of the United States. OK, sitting in his bunker at an undisclosed location, but you know what I mean.

Hmm. The word "bunker" does little to conjure up the opulence of what are surely luxurious accomodations, but it sure makes Cheney sound like he's roughing it in a military-type setting.

Roughing it. Yeah, right.