Stoopid Stuff

Pardon Me?

"We have to look forward, not backward". Odd. Nobody ever said that when I was charged with a crime. Nobody ever said it would be unreasonable, shrill, extreme, radical or partisan to prosecute my ass. Tom Ricks called for a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission".

Nope. Not even that is good enough. It seems simple enough to me. Chris Hayes makes the case perfectly:

1) Yesterday, AG designee Eric Holder said, without hesitation that water-boarding is torture.

2) Dick Cheney has admitted authorizing water-boarding.

3) Dick Cheney has admitted authorizing torture.

4) Torture is a felony under US law punishable by up to 20 years of prison.

5) Dick Cheney authorized a felony.

QED, right? Is there any other way to reason through these premises and deductions?

It really couldn't be simpler. Bush and Cheney, among their other enablers, repeated broke both US and International law. They violated statutes the US has prosecuted before. If they are not prosecuted and tried, there is nothing that will ever again compel an American political leadership figure to follow the rule of law, even while we say emphatically that it is our belief in the rule of law that makes us different.

I don't even see how it's a question at all. I mean, imagine if Dick Cheney had actually SHOT someone instead of authorizing torture...Ok, that's a bad example. Imagine if Dick Cheney had robbed a bank during his lunch break. Or raped a tourist. Prosecuting him would not be considered a "partisan act".

If the brave American Patriots who tortured the men in their custody really thought America was at risk and it was necessary for them to break the law in order to save American lives, then they should WELCOME a trial. Because if they could truly make that case, there is every likelihood that they would be exonerated, or pardoned. They should not expect not to be prosecuted, they should expect to prevail in a trial. Somehow, they had the courage to torture, even in some cases unto death, helpless men entirely in their power. Have they not the courage to stand up and take responsibility for their actions?

For heaven's sake, even Stalin's Russia and Mao's China never admitted to torture. They never discussed it as a POLICY POSITION, for gawds sake. You either do it or you don't, but you do it in the dark, secretly, without telling the world you do it. Somehow, as a nation that embraced human rights and rejected authoritarian measures like surveillance and torture, America was able to survive, indeed to thrive, in the face of threats as big as Nazi German and the Soviet Empire. But 800 guys in a cave halfway around the world represented a threat so severe it became necessary for America to become precisely the thing she fought against all those years? I completely reject that premise.

Still, there's this niggling little voice in my head that keeps wondering. Maybe Obama isn't willing to come out and say his administration will investigate and prosecute war crimes in hopes of preventing Bush from preemptively pardoning the primary players in his government. Maybe Obama hopes that if Bush believes there won't be investigations, he won't need to take the unseemly step of admitting crimes by issuing pardons.

Here's hoping, anyway. We'll know the answers soon enough...

posted by mikey @ 2:01 PM