I write about conspiracy theories for a living and I don’t believe in coincidences.
Yesterday on December 9th, The House Oversight Committee held hearings; the star witness Jonathan Gruber—a fact few overlooked.
Days before, haggling took place among the politicos as whether or not the Senate Intelligence Committee should release their so called, “Torture Report,” a partisan report detailing the CIA’s use of torture on detainees held in secret facilities. Senator Diane Feinstein won—the one sided report was released.
In the latter case, many overlooked the fact that the report is a result of a ten year—$40 million investigation into acts approved by the former president, which passed muster in the justice department, and was sanctioned by both houses of Congress.
Many have forgotten that those actions had already been outed during the Abu Ghraib Scandal in 2003 when U.S. soldiers were overly aggressive in their use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on Iraqi prisoners. Preceding the omissions, The Nation’s cover story on March 31 of the same year was titled, “In Torture We Trust?” The assertion was that torture was gaining acceptance among the mainstream in the age of 9/11. Hearings were held, reprimands, discharges, and criminal charges were levied.
In 2004, a nonpartisan, independent review of interrogation techniques in the years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks concluded that “it is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture”
In 2008, a Congressional bipartisan report established that harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA and the U.S. military were directly adapted from the training techniques used to prepare special forces personnel to resist interrogation by enemies that torture and abuse prisoners as a matter of practice.
In 2009. President Obama signed an executive order requiring the CIA to use only the 19 interrogation methods outlined in the United States Army Field Manual. The Obama administration also granted legal immunity to Bush administration officials involved in sanctioning and ordering use of the banned interrogation methods.
Question: Why was it important to release a report that has been discussed, investigated, and settled, on the same day the opening hearings are to take place in the House Oversight Committee?
Answer: Jonathan Gruber.
While “Don’t be a Gruber,” will most likely become part of the vernacular, Gruber’s statements have placed the White House in the position to question, “How “stupid” is the American Public?” Their miscalculation may be that the American citizens are not stupid but more likely ignorant, unaware of the details because of the deliberate obfuscation at the hands of the Obama Administration. Transparency was not part of the marketing strategy.
However, looking through semi-rose-colored glasses, I see a tide of ebbing interest as more and more citizens, with and without prior healthcare insurance, are discovering the misinformation, also referred to as a bill of goods. In fact, many can’t keep their healthcare plans, they can’t keep their doctor, their premiums have increased not decreased, and Obamacare is a tax. Indeed, 18 separate tax hikes, fees, and penalties, many impacting the middle class have been imposed. And the death blow for the next succession of generations is that Obamacare will not reduce the deficit by paying for itself. Currently, with an $18 trillion national debt that is 70% higher than it was in 2009, there is no downward trend projected in the foreseeable future. All promises made to the American people were never intended to be kept.
How clever of the Administration to release a 600 page executive summary citing torture techniques imposed by the U.S. on our enemies at the exact time Gruber was being questioned about the lies of Obamacare. Across the media the gist of the report was relayed and Senator Feinstein’s blathered her justification for the report. And although there was barely a mention that the report took 10 years and $40 million to produce. Or that releasing the report put 6000 military men and women around the world on high alert for fear of retaliation…or using retaliation as an excuse for violence toward Americans—it provided a sizeable distraction from the hearing in The House. That may prove to be another grave miscalculation.
In reality, what happened over ten years ago is of lesser importance to the low-to-middle income earners than Jobs and the after-effects of Obamacare. The “Gruber” hearings may shed some light and or at a minimum defog the issues.
Clearly, it appears that there is some concern by the Administration that ignorance may slowly be replaced with reality. Bliss is waning.
