As a long-term letter writer and member of the hate-Bush crowd, Thoryk obviously suffered mightily after the November 2006 elections, when the democrat-led Congress morphed from a legislative body into an investigative one, with the Bush Administration their No. 1 target. Instead of giving Bush and his minions what Thoryk considered their “just desserts”—long prison sentences for “war crimes” and “Bush atrocities,”—they failed completely in criminalizing any actions of Bush or his administration.
Then in January 2009, the Obama Administration took office promising change and Thoryk’s hopes again rose that the Bush Administration would “pay the price” that the author demanded. Surely, Thoryk’s hopes soared when President Obama announced the launching of the CIA Tactics Probe under United States Attorney General Eric Holder. Imagine Thoryk’s disappointment and anger upon also learning that, a few months after 9/11, Holder had stated on CNN that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay were, “Not, in fact, people entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention... given the way they have conducted themselves.” Also, learning that Bush, Cheney, Rove, et. al., were not the targets of the probe, only CIA officers or contractors who crossed the line on rough but permissible tactics, was likely the final straw for Thoryk, turning him against Obama.
As early as his September 2008 missive, Thoryk began showing his frustration and bitterness regarding the political scene. His letter of that date to Syracuse’s daily paper stated, “We must force George Bush and Dick Cheney to resign. Arrest the politicians, lobbyists, corporate CEOs and speculators behind the pillage of taxpayer money.” Wow! Thoryk’s erroneous venting certainly lends credence to the old saying, “muddled writing usually indicates muddled thinking.”
—Richard A. Lindsay
North Syracuse
