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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Perhaps the best approach would be two-pronged:
1. A sort of Truth and Reconciliation commission, with US prosecution only of those found not to be forthcoming with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, with a public report posted on the internet that names names, dates, and specific events described in simple rather than obfuscatory governmental style lawyerly language.
2. A policy passed into law by Congress that the US government will not opposed the world court in the event of prosecution for war crimes or crimes against humanity. This second step should happen after the fact of the T&R report publication.
Those seeking a pardon plus Truth and Reconciliation Commission solution might ought to ask permission from the victims, and their countries of origin. Normally the perpetrator does not propose a non-judicial, no-one-gets-punished solution, only the victim does, if they are so inclined.
It's so typical of the American government establishment, and even of the American legal establishment to have this kind of inward navel directed gaze, caring only about the ramifications enclosed by our own borders. How can we bring accused terrorists onto U.S. soil? How can we pardon classified persons? How can we prosecute members of the other party? How will admitting wrong affect national security?
And not a hint of a thought to: How is this fair to the people we have wronged? Domestic pardons are international cover-ups. They get added to the list of crimes just like domestic cover-ups. We need to purge sovereigntists from our law schools. Our lawyers too often have American Impunity tatooed to their tongues.
First, Thank you Mr. Bush for 8 years of terror free strikes upon the U.S.. War is war and we are the only Country who acts like we have to treat terrorist like they have rights. THEY HAVE NONE. If someone ended up in one of our army prisons, it probably wasn't by accident, it just doesn't happen that way, they don't pluck innocent people off the street. And we don't know whether torture happened or not, or if it was an issolated incident, other than what the lieing liberal press reported, and you know what they thought of Bush, so they will spew any crap to get a headline.
So in conclusion, I believe NOTHING the liberal press prints, and I do back Obama, he's our President, and if a terrorist was tortured tough stuff. I remember over 4,000 innocent men, women, and children that were basically burned alive by these so called terrorist, and I had friends there.
Obama won, time to get down to the real problems and quit worrying about further bashing of Bush.
Election is over, Obama won, Obama won, Obama won. The DNC won, so how about getting on with running the Country instead of dredging up the past. Lets worry about the Economy, Illegal immigration, terrorism instead of worrying about something that hasn't even been done yet. You bloggers in Salon are Pathetic.
Maybe the best option for this, and most if not all other Bush/Cheney attrocities, is lots and lots of sunshine.
Don't prosecute, give everyone immunity in a patriotic effort to get to the whole truth.
Once the public, especially those 'low-information' voters, sees the truth--endorsed by their own past leaders--the neo-Con/Republican brand will stink. Forever.
Hey, GWB only did what the American public demanded -- namely, use his power to pursue the evil parties who perpetrated 9/11. The author and all the bloggers write oh-so-sanctimonious comments as though they are not culpable. But they are. And I am too. We are the Twenty-First Century analogy to the German silent majority who did not have the courage to oppose the evil of Nazism. We lacked the strength of character to see through the fog of our own vindictiveness on the 12th of September, 2001. If there is to be indictment, it must not stop with the Bush Administration.
You can't be pardoned unless you're guilty, so let's see how many "plead guilty." Will Baghdad Bush be one of them?
Speak for yourself.
You don't know me or how I spend my time.
I agree with your last sentence. Aside from that: pure and simple bullshit.
Bush fed on a diet of revenge and vindictivness from some people, not all by any means. Not from me nor most of the people I know.
" If there is to be indictment, it must not stop with the Bush Administration." Agreed.
"First, Thank you Mr. Bush for 8 years of terror free strikes upon the U.S." -- fbair1
I also note that there were no Alien Invasions, Kitten Uprisings, Asteroid Collisions, China-Syndrome Nuclear Meltdowns, or Indian Invasions (not counting the ones coming over on F-1B visas). Neither were there any Dinosaur Extinctions, Ice Ages, Elephant Rampages (involving more than a handful of elephants), Attacks by Rabid Hula Dancers, or Ostrich Insurgencies.
I suppose whatever our politics, we've gotta be grateful for that at least. "Thank you mister Bush that there were no Packs of Killer Squirrels unleashed during your tenure in office."
However, unfortunately, there were lots of Home Foreclosures, Torturings, Wars, Economic Upheavals, Bank Bailouts, Laws Broken, Rights Trampled, People Wrongly Imprisoned, Roads Ignored, Cronies Paid Off, No-Bid Multi-Billion Dollar Contracts, Sky-High Gasoline and Fuel Prices, A Recession-cum-Depression, The Worst Christmas Season in 25+ Years, Americans Illegally Spied-Upon, Innocent People Killed, Guilty People Not Brought to Justice, Massive Job Losses, Economy In the Toilet, Major Industries Brought to their Knees, Jobs Sent Overseas... and the list goes on and on and on and on.
I don't think Americans are in too much of a thanking mood anymore.
It strikes me that a thorough investigation on the matter of torture should proceed even if Bush issues pardons, the reason being that we must learn what happened and who bears the ultimate responsibilities. Even if Bush issues pardons, do these not apply only to the American court system? Once the full truth is exposed, what is to prevent other countries from indicting those responsbile and, if another country can catch the offenders, trying them? Spain has quite a record of doing exactly this, for example. Thus, the guilty parties might find themselves restricted to American soil in the future; the US would be their jail, which they could not leave without putting themselves in peril. Perhaps another power will exercise selective rendition on them for a change, kidnap them out of their gated communities and try them overseas.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
