Via Glenn Greenwald. His whole post is worth reading.
I don’t think so. However, seven former CIA directors have sent a letter to President Obama and they “urge [him] to exercise [his] authority to reverse Attorney General’s August 24 decision to re-open the criminal investigation of CIA interrogations.” What so-called “authority” are they talking about?
The President doesn’t order specific people to be prosecuted or shielded from prosecution. Only Justice Department officials, assessing purely legal factors, make those determinations.
President Obama has acknowledged this fact.
What criminal investigations do the former CIA directors want to stop? Greenwald cites a report in the Washington Post (from anonymous DOJ sources) and concludes (emphasis in original):
The only thing Holder wants investigated — what has provoked all of this intense Beltway uproar — is “two or three cases” where detainees were killed. Contrary to how this has been debated, what Holder has ordered is not a “torture investigation.” To the contrary, he said explicitly that those who tortured in good faith compliance with Yoo’s torture memos will be immunized. It isn’t torture techniques which are being considered for prosecution. All Holder has ordered are basically just garden-variety murder investigations…
…But even that is too much for our political class. Apparently, not only should executive branch officials and their agencies be allowed to institute a torture regime, spy on Americans illegally, and commit war crimes , but they should also be allowed literally to get away with murder.
How far will Obama administration’s Department of Justice ignore the rule of law in order to condone U.S. government lawlessness? We’ll find out in the coming months.
#1 by Larry Bergan on September 21, 2009 - 9:11 am
I like Greenwald’s update:
The next time I get pulled over for speeding. I’m going to tell the police office that “I’m looking into it.”
#2 by Tim Carter on September 21, 2009 - 6:03 pm
I wish we, as a nation, had the balls to address this. Are we not as bad as the holocaust deniers? Different for sure, but the same, too. Everyone knows we tried and sentenced Japanese officers for waterboarding and torture after WWII. Eisenhower made citizens of towns close to concentration camps walk through the camps so could the not deny it had happened. Still at the trials we heard ‘I was just following orders’. That didn’t fly for the soldiers who were thrown under the bus at Abu Ghraib. We are hypocrites.
http://rebelreports.com/post/187866521/cheney-and-rumsfelds-close-friend-throws-out-suit
#3 by Larry Bergan on September 21, 2009 - 7:10 pm
Tim:
I think it was Paul Krugman, (way back in the day now), who illuminated the fact that we now have several, 24 hour, cable news channels which don’t seem to be able to focus on more then one story.
It distresses me dearly to see this most important issue go by the wayside in favor of non-stop health care coverage. It makes us look like a bunch of crybabies who only care about themselves. Of course, it’s the TINY MINORITY of “teabaggers, (now known as tea party patriots for obvious reasons), who are making us look like a bunch of worthless idiots, because the media gives more credence to them then sane people. Even Michael Moore rarely talks about health care anymore and he probably had more to do with the debate then anybody else.
How do we fight this? What haven’t we tried?
By the way, I haven’t had any heath care for years now.