Keep reading the good book.

Are you willing to sacrifice the lives of your friends and family so that the minority leaders of the foreign Government that killed your friends and family can get a few extra votes when they take power?

If so, I'm glad I'm not part of your family, and if not, why should the Iraqis?

Something just flew past my window, and oinked.

I think it was bahhummingbug, and here is my evidence:

oink,

bah.

Willing to sweep the deaths of over a million dead civilians under the rug in exchange for *maybe* a few votes in the congress.

I must admit, their Moral Compass has led them to some mighty fine principles.

Link at sig

I have been seething over the Bush administration's abuses since Cheney absconded with the notes of his energy policy meetings with Ken Lay and the boys. I believe many in the administration deserve punishment worse than jail time. I believe the current administration has hastened our decline into a third-world nation, squandering our blood, treasure, moral authority and good will on earth. However ....

I knew that part was coming.

I really appreciated getting a response to my question.

In the interim, I learned more via another Salon article--"Obama's plans for probing Bush torture" by Mark Benjamin--which (including comments) helped inform MHO.

You said it well: "Guess it boils down to what end is desired." Truth? or Revenge?

Much as I'd prefer some well-earned prosecutions (though I might call that justice, not necessarily Revenge), if ferreting out the Truth remains the only option on the table due to potential pardons, I'd support that. I just don't want a repeat of the Clinton impeachment, i.e., in terms of a vast amount of resources and taxpayer dollars expended (ultimately, for what?) and the distraction from other vital issues this nation confronts, all tinged with partisan politics.

Presidential oversight is the responsibility of the sitting Congress. If the President obviously is a criminal, or otherwise unsuited for office, it is the responsibility of Congress to throw the bum out.

If that's political suicide for the members of the sitting Congress, tough cookies for them. They swore an oath to the Constitution.

The only thing that's reasonable at this point is "fact finding." And there's plenty of facts to be found.

"I just don't want a repeat of the Clinton impeachment, i.e., in terms of a vast amount of resources and taxpayer dollars expended (ultimately, for what?) and the distraction from other vital issues this nation confronts, all tinged with partisan politics." -- gehgoeson

I sincerely hope you are not equating whatever crimes Clinton was impeached for with the litany of deeds which might be unearthed (some of which we know something about) through a Serious investigation by Serious people.

Nobody died when Clinton lied.

I'm afraid I have to agree with you about the winner. I tried, really, to be the good guy and treat him (and his issue) with intelligence, perspicaciousness, and (or but) humility. I get an F. Onward and upward.

about your blog: The Minuteman’s Guide to fine Mexican dining

When I was with them (determining kill zones in the name of justice) they all preferred Taco Bell.

Sometimes it's all about the effort, not the outcome. That's why everyone wins at the Special Olympics, including our trolls.

We have a financial crisis, two wars and a president-elect who won on a strategy of post-partisan politics. We all know Bush was small-minded and quite possibly a criminal, and we certainly should get the facts out (behind closed doors) so this does not happen again. But a political witch hunt for bureaucrats would send Obama home after four years. The entire affair would become immensely political and discredit Obama's whole appeal to the MIDDLE MAJORITY. No self respecting Democrat wants to see America's dirty laundry aired after we have just won back a big dose of good will from our international friends.

Isn't it remarkable how many people they've been able to convince that their fate depends upon letting our political leaders break the law without consequences?

If the Government were to create the position of Brainwashing Czar -- or Citizen Control Czar -- and that person issued a report recommending that the Government try to inculcate the population into believing that it was for their own Good that political leaders were free to break the law and not be prosecuted, nobody would think it possible. Everyone would say: "oh not, not even the most potent brainwashing techniques, applied to the most mindless and subservient population, could ever convince them of that."

And yet, right here in my very own comment section, you have one person after the next coming forth to say how all of the Important Things the New Leader has to do for them means that, for their own Good, the Old Leader and everyone who worked with him must be given carte blanche to commit crimes.

Really stunning.

"about your blog: The Minuteman’s Guide to fine Mexican dining

When I was with them (determining kill zones in the name of justice) they all preferred Taco Bell."

-- Timothy3

1. It's not my blog. It's dedicated to Shooter.

2. Taco Bell? Does Taco Bell have Mexicans on the menu now?

It'll actually be a whole lot cheaper. The Clinton impeachment, if you recall, required several years of investigations at taxpayer expense before finding something to investigate. We don't need to do that here, there were crimes involved this time.

My observation is that countries who do not hold their leaders accountable for criminal behaviors are left with too many inconsistencies, i.e., citizens are required to observe the law yet not the leaders? These countries are left with too many unanswered questions and often are doomed to have leaders who again break the law, viz. the Argentine who said let it go around the past criminal behavior of military juntas and the judges who supported them. Ignoring these crimes left so many unanswered questions that now, years later, they are having to address those crimes, as is Greece and other nations who were in the past subjected to criminal regimes. Leaders should be held as accountable as all citizens, and leaders who deliberately lie to citizens should be held accountable in appropriate courts of law. It is the only way to keep a country honest.