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I guess I am confused by the necessity for pardons. Ever since the revelations of "torture" surfaced, this administration has repeatedly spoken to us like adolescents that simply don't understand - the US doesn't torture, never has, never will. Water boarding, stress positions, endless sensory deprivation - all of these activities are well documented and the administration has both admitted that these tactics were/are used and repeatedly claimed that they are not torture, but "enhanced interrogation" techniques. They have been completely clear in their arguments - they have done absolutely nothing legally wrong, so they say. The Executive Branch is free from the legal scrutiny that we normal citizens must fear.
Their current lack of confidence that these morally repugnant arguments won't stand up to new legal scrutiny shows what the naysayers have known all along - the US has completely institutionalized torture, the amount of ongoing past and present torture is massive, and the cover for their activities ends in January.
Regardless of their current legal predicament, we have much bigger problems as a country. Our Constitutional system was not able to effectively drive the enforcement of laws over an entire branch of the government. As a Democratic President takes over the reins, policies will temporally change, but the shadow, defense-related government that actually drives much current US policy will not disappear until it is exposed and removed like a cancerous tumor. At the heart of the problem is the American ability to see and appreciate the many wonderful and unique strengths of our Constitutional system while simultaneously demonizing those with the temerity to point out its shortcomings. What does it say about our system that people are calling for a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission?" At the very least, it says that we have known for some time that our Executive Branch is breaking the law and our system was unable to make it stop.
To admit this truth is to be a true Patriot who desperately wants to see his/her beloved country return to its ideals.
