Email Glenn and ask for the mailing address and instructions: GGreenwald@salon.com

His email address is on the UT homepage, left side.

I don't understand what leads you to suggest that the Obama/Holder DOJ will allow any investigation to go wherever it leads along legal and logical lines. I have to agree with others above that you seem very naive.

Holder/Obama have continued to utilize and have expanded use of the state secrets doctrine to thwart judicial process.

Holder/Obama have converted an early commitment to close Gitmo into creation of a new system of military tribunals and the fail-safe "indefinite detention" concept that vitiates the independence of the judiciary entirely.

Holder/Obama have allowed Dawn Johnsen to twist in the wind, while OLC remains leaderless.

Obama has, in some cases, continued to thwart Congressional investigations by upholding questionable assertions executive privilege by Bush officials.

The whole tenor of the Obama/Holder DOJ seems to be: 1. Courts, we decide when you will be permitted to prosecute or to have access to information to inform your process. And if we allow prosecution, and you acquit against our wishes, we’ll hang on to those prisoners if we feel they still present a threat. 2. Congress, we will let you know when and how you may carry out your oversight functions. Shades of the unitary executive.

The Obama/Holder DOJ has been dragged kicking and screaming to the point of having to do something to respond to actions that even Bush admitted were ill-advised, improper, and illegal. They damn sure don't want transparency and accountability on torture and related issues. The way Holder is framing the investigation clearly indicates the intent to find a few low-level scapegoats, exonerate high-level decision makers and their lapdog legal rationalizers, and continue to enjoy “flexibility” in the application of law and treaty obligations to their own actions.

Inspiring rhetoric aside, what leads you to believe that the Obama/Holder DOJ will appoint a "truly independent prosecutor,” and give that person adequate time and resources to follow an investigation to whatever logical legal conclusions they reach?

Is Rahm having a crisis of conscience?

The discussion about why Glenn keeps trying in this worst of all possible worlds is amusing. True greatness is always misunderstood and underappreciated. There was a lot of it around when we threw King George out and created a country that has been a beacon of freedom and independence. A lot of supremely talented and committed individuals who put it all on the line. Now, not so much.

Great post Glenn. Amazing how you take facts and events that most of us here are familiar with, pile them up, drop a plumbline, and construct a skyscraper.

The thread through rrheard, GG, and Bill Owen was pitch-perfect also. Yeah, it all sucks, but giving up is not an option. So quit whining and wallowing and find a way to contribute. If you have a day job like I do, or, like me, just aren't all that creative, send Jane a couple of bucks. She's better at it than you are anyhow.

LondonLad, you're right, there's no hope. This may be the best time for a counter-independence revolution. That way you guys get your empire back, and we get health care reform. Cheers.

"Politics isn't beanbag."

Option 5: Obama just is not constitutionally prepared to play hardball. His upward ascent has been meteoric. It couldn't have happened if the "powers that be" had not been assured, explicitly and implicitly, that he wouldn't change the rules of the game. Giving these assurances was second nature to a man whose life has been the textbook case example of "go along to get along." Even though his personal struggles have been daunting, and his success story inspiring, his success is defined as acceptance into the political, media and power elite. Why would he risk the prize that his life has been dedicated to achieving?

As you point out, anyone who has read his books knew long ago that he may be a progressive by mild intellectual inclination, but that he would never stake his future on any ideal, policy or program. His tragic flaw is believing that the genuine gifts that have paved the way to his incredible and inspiring success are appropriate to engaging in reasoned discourse with opponents who will destroy him at any cost to take power from him.

Yeah, yeah, but you're forgetting that the Constitution's just a piece of paper.

And what did Paine write on? Duh, paper.

Case closed. You lose.