Today, I'm heeding a call to arms that was sounded by Booman. As ABC News reported on Friday:

President Bush says he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to an exclusive interview with ABC News Friday. "Well, we started to connect the dots in order to protect the American people." Bush told ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz. "And yes, I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved."

Excuse me? You knew about it and approved it? It wasn't rogue elements in the CIA, nor rotten apples at Abu Ghraib? As Jack Balkin writes:

So now the plot thickens. John Ashcroft, it appears, repeatedly signed off on the legality of the techniques but was squeamish about going into details, arguing "that senior White House advisers should not be involved in the grim details of interrogations." "According to a top official, Ashcroft asked aloud after one meeting: `Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.'"

Moreover, the committee's approvals, it appears, continued even after Jack Goldsmith disavowed the Yoo torture memos:

[T]he CIA had captured a new al Qaeda suspect in Asia. Sources said CIA officials that summer returned to the Principals Committee for approval to continue using certain "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Then-National Security Advisor Rice, sources said, was decisive. Despite growing policy concerns -- shared by Powell -- that the program was harming the image of the United States abroad, sources say she did not back down, telling the CIA: "This is your baby. Go do it."

Apparently, Ashcroft didn't heed his own advice, as the WaPo reports:

The Post reported that the attendees at one or more of these sessions included then-presidential counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, then-Defense Department general counsel William J. Haynes II, then-National Security Council legal adviser John B. Bellinger III, CIA counsel John A. Rizzo, and David S. Addington, then-counsel to Cheney.

The Post reported that the methods discussed included open-handed slapping, the threat of live burial and waterboarding. The threat of live burial was rejected, according to an official familiar with the meetings.

State Department officials and military lawyers were intentionally excluded from these deliberations, officials said.

Where is the follow up by the AP, UPI, McClatchy, CBS, NBC,... Why are we hearing nothing but crickets? Even ABC and the WaPo aren't following up on these serious allegations! As Booman wrote:

It is hard to believe that just ten years ago this nation impeached a president for lying about his sex life in a civil deposition in a case that was eventually tossed for lack of merit. Ten years ago the media could not grant enough coverage to the crimes of the president, but now even confessed felonies are covered over in favor of silly campaign coverage.

Bush and Cheney will be leaving office in nine months, and the easiest thing to do is to just run out the clock. But that isn't the right thing to do. And it will not absolve us of our responsibility to punish injustice and vindicate our nation's commitment to human rights and the rule of law. Just look at how the world views us. Are we to let this stand?

And, yet, what can we do? With Clinton and Obama distracted by the primaries and the domestic press in the bag and with Republican complicity and administration obstruction, there seems to be no leadership and no path to a solution.

That leaves the responsibility on citizen activists...people like you and me. If the media won't cover it, we will. And we will hope that shame compels the media to recognize our shame and agony, and our commitment to our country and its reputation in the world.

Write your Congress Critters and ask them to heed the ACLU's call for a Special Prosecutor to investigate.

“No one in the executive branch of government can be trusted to fairly investigate or prosecute any crimes since the head of every relevant department, along with the president and vice president, either knew or participated in the planning and approval of illegal acts,” said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Congress cannot look the other way; it must demand an independent investigation and independent prosecutor.”

Investigate, Indict, and, Impeach these Bastards...!