November 21, 2007

Daniel Levin

It all goes back to 2004, when Daniel Levin was the acting director of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. The issue of whether or not waterboarding was torture was still being suppressed by Gonzales, Cheney, and Bush, so Levin decided he would personally resolve the issue by having himself undergo the "intensive interrogation."

Levin concluded, a straight arrow if ever there was one, is that waterboarding is indeed torture.

That didn't sit well with Gonzales, who in true Bushevik fashion expected the party line from executive branch staff, not the truth. So he fired Levin.

Ironically, Levin had replaced Jack Goldsmith, who left the Justice Department after he had questioned administration policy on the use of torture.

But of all the macho-posturing Bush and Cheney followers, only Levin had the manhood to stop theorizing about waterboarding and to make a judgment by experiencing it himself. For such courage, he got the boot when he should have been given a commendation and a promotion.

The story of Levin's actions and dismissal only leaked out recently during the Michael Mukasey hearings. The Busheviks are almost as good at hiding their dirt under the rug as the Kremlin was in its heyday.

Daniel Levin puts the White House and all those bloviators in Congress to shame.

As a man who truly put torture to the test, he more than merits this week's BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award.

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