Since the House stripped out the provision making it illegal for the Pentagon to release the Bush-era detainee photos  from the War Supplemental bill in conference, the two Senators are upping the ante.  At a press conference today (Tuesday) they tantrummed with smoking ears and red faces:  Graham:  "The removal of the photo amendment is one of the most outrageous and irresponsible acts in the history of Congress."  "Is the ACLU now in charge of the House of Representatives?"  "We're not going to do any more business in the Senate; nothing's going forward until we get this right."

Lieberman called the desire for the photos' release "sheer voyeurism," and "disclosure without a purpose."  And argued that transparency is fine as long as there isn't too much of it.

Graham mentioned that the President and Secretary of State are also opposed to their release (as luck would have it).

I admit that I have vascillated on the issue, but now that these same folks are fighting the release of the cables and memos that would surely illuminate the exact vectors of the torture decisions, opinions and orders, I am going to support release of the whole pile of damning evidence.  It is starting too get just too creepy watching it play out, the politics, the justifications, the threats, the cover-up obfuscations.

Lindsey Graham wants to convince us that a little transparency on Abu Graib was a good thing; it caused "us" to "respond correctly,"  Yessiree, we got that General Janice Karpinsky, and Private Lyndie England, and her perv boyfriend, that took care of it!

I don't know who in Congress was briefed, only they do.  But watching some of the Gang of Eight parse their words with surgical exactitude has made me more than suspicious that we aren't really getting the truth, if there is such a thing.  And I am becoming less sure that it is solely the proection of our troops and diplomats that causes the furor and threats over the release of the photos and cables.  Especially in this case, when these two Senators threaten to derail the war supplemental bill, which is at least in part about the troops, right?

It may be a vain hope to think there ever may be thorough investigations, but I think many of us will continue to suffer sick stomachs unless there are.

That may be partly why some of the key players in the Bush Administration are stepping forward now to tell their parts of the story.  Perhaps they are plagued by sick stomach and nasty dreams, and need to purge themselves, just as I believe now our country needs to purge itself of torture by discovering the truth.