Op-Ed: Torture issue a softball game for Dick Cheney

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has been at bat several times since the Presidential election. With head cocked right, looking confident again, he aims his bat at media softballs. Will this strategy win the game?

Cheney has been at bat several times after leaving office. In the first defensive inning against the people of the United States, Cheney stood proudly as the media batter, smiling around at a crowded arena, threw the ball so far outside several times that moans could be heard in the bleachers. Cheney quietly walked to first. The second time up a confidant Cheney knew a bit about the pitcher. He had watched other players come and go, a few striking out, a few making hits and taking a base or two. He knew, however, that he had the attention of the crowd and had the goods on members of the opposite team. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the coach in a huddle in the box behind the pitcher nod, smile and point in Cheney’s direction. Cheney knew then he’d get a strike ball or walk away from the base. Once more Cheney strode to the plate. He took his bat and moved his feet back and forth in the dirt. His feet became muddied from the dampness of the ground as he dug in his heels and waited. The first ball looked like it might come close. Cheney watched amused as a gentle skew moved the ball outside and he took a walk as a ball was called. The pitcher’s mouth grimaced but his eyes sparkled nonetheless as he aimed again, and once more outside ball two was called. The crowd around sighed, a few yelped, several cheered and a whole bunch booed, but Cheney understood. After all he had faced the crowd before, winning them over with the same old ways. Why not try again? Each time he maneuvered, he got around the bases as his team members just followed his rules, enough points to stay in the game. In a defensive move, Cheney has been on national television first declaring he not only knew but authorized water-boarding. He explained it not as torture, but a legal act authorized by the President. A walk occurred, as the media never asked if the President had authorized if the rack of the Dark Ages had been used would that too been excused and applied. Cheney got the best field for baseball on Face the Nation, declaring that the Republicans would be better off with Rush Limbaugh than a military hero and former general, Colin Powell. Backing Limbaugh and with the same sort of cynical pose, he took aim once again and said Powell’s presence was no longer necessary on the Republican team, and they could win again surely with Limbaugh. No pitcher in this softball game has asked the batter this: Did the United States sign certain agreements about torture? What were those agreements, when were they signed and why? What did those agreements say? Was torture defined in those agreements? What does it mean when a nation gives its word to the world? Should those in charge of the game get off and if they do what might happen. But no one asks the hardball stuff. So Cheney continues to walk. Will that tactic eventually win the whole game or will the coach change the pitcher next time?