- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
If Obama as President finds out that the benefit open prosecution of Commandante Bush is greater than the harm, then he will do so with enthusiasm.
The risk of doing so will determine how enthusiastic such actions will be.
If the risk is too much, he will do his best to avoid any such actions.
What kind of risk? Well for starters many in the military have close ties to industry, a lot of them pushed for the war in Iraq without any political feelings at all - It was to make a lot of money, and in that they succeeded!
I can see any attempt to persecute Team Bush leading into a brick wall laid by these people out of fear that such an investigation would lead directly to their role in the war and the crimes.
The notion that members of Team Bush will be without any sort of power to defend themselves once out of office is astoundingly naive. Their power will come from the legion who worked with them to bring about their nightmarish policies.
Many of them will remain in Government after he's gone.
Many will be in positions of "trust" ready willing and able to sabotage any and all efforts to find "the truth" behind Team Bush's criminal governmental actions.
If Obama does decide to go forward with such investigations, you can be sure it would be after he's safely ensconced in power, and that is MORE THAN just winning the election. That means once he's successfully removed all (to his team's knowledge) any potential supporters of the past policies. This could take several years.
Obama so far has proven to be MUCH smarter than most of his left-wing supporters. (That's one reason he's able to treat them so patronizingly.)
He is not going to sacrifice his opportunity to be President by immediately seeking to prosecute members of Team Bush for crimes.
He will need time to learn the levers of power, and how to prevent his opponents from taking control of those levers the moment he stumbles.
Of course, after that point, when it's safe to reveal his admin. may/will discover actions/decisions by the previous admin. that are simply too heinous, too illegal ignore, and then the nation could see the criminal prosecution so many on the left dream about.
No matter what, it will come when Obama feels secure and strong, OR the opposite.
Should Obama find himself suddenly painted into a corner, close to defeat on all sides, a discovery of high crimes by the previous Admin. would make a perfect diversion while he attempts to regain control.
One thing is certain is it will not be done just because it is "right."
As commandante Bush demonstrated for a good 4yrs. after 9/11, what we as a nation think is "good, right" is relative to the moment.
After the primaries, and now in the general campaign, Team Obama has demonstrated a near perfect understanding of what that means.
Obama it seems was the star pupil in the figurative classes Commandante Bush taught regarding "Truth as an instrument of power."
So for that reason, Team Obama will only pursue this sort of prosecution if it provides advantage. If it doesn't it will be buried, and with it I suppose much of the faith-based support from the Left that was so key to winning, but that will be according to plan.
Once he wins, he won't need them anymore, their non-stop demands and high-profile backstabbing will be a price too high to pay, and he will co-op the far more stable and believable, traditional centers of power to be free of them.
