Attack the messenger is what they usually fall back on when they cannot offer a sensible rebuttal. a)doing X is illegal and punishable; b)those in power are required to prosecute 'anyone' doing X; c) this administration has admitted doing X...d?) we must look forward etc. just won't cut it.

Once again, Glenn has put it succinctly ...there is no reason or excuse that can be given for not prosecuting except to say in this country certain people are above the rule of law.

Suck on that Friedman...soon Israel will be prosecuted for war crimes too.

Somebody once told me that every treaty made with Native Americans has been broken...by us.

In my experience, laws are applied most stringently to the "little people"...meaning the architects of torture will walk.

Are you familiar with Susan Lindauer's case?

here is a link, with more links at the bottom of the page, related to this case:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0901/S00210.htm

I don't know if Scoop is the greatest source for information, frankly, but I also know it was not unusual at all for American media to both lie about and ignore important stories.

Lindauer, Scoop claims, was held as a political prisoner on a military base without facing charges. Federal prosecutors attempted to forcibly drug her with the Soviet's old favorite for political prisoners, Haldol. The charges have been dropped as of this week, but if the story about the actions taken by the Bush administration are true, this is one case that people in the U.S. need to know about and one that needs to have a day in criminal court.

Have you ever looked at this story to confirm or deny the information presented?

Since you have legal training, contacts and a platform here to deliver information, I would be truly grateful if you could confirm or deny the Lindauer story for the American people. If the story is true, Americans need to report this. If it's not true, that should be made clear as well.

NYTimes, 2007:

http://nytimes.com/2007/02/27/world/americas/27paraguay.html

“As I am accustomed to saying, hunger and unemployment, like the lack of access to health and education, have no ideology.”

“My discourse, my person and my testimony are above political parties, whose own members are desirous of change and want an end to a system that favors narrow partisan interests over those of the country.”

- - Msgr. (ret.) Fernando Lugo Méndez
as quoted in the NYTimes, February 27, 2007

Obama's no Lugo, nor is GWB a Stroessner.

But note that post-partisanship and its discontents aren't just USA things.

The NYTimes article continues:

His political style, say those who have observed him, stresses cooperation rather than confrontation, and collaborative leadership over a cult of personality.

“As a priest, he has a good command of group dynamics, and is also a superb organizer,” said Marcial Riquelme, a Paraguayan sociologist. “He knows how to bring people together who don’t like each other and then to mediate all those various sectors to reconcile interests. That’s a remarkable ability in a country where we are normally at each other’s throats.”

- - NYTimes, 2007

* * * * *

NYTimes, 2008:

http://nytimes.com/2008/04/22/world/americas/22paraguay.html

An Outsider’s Victory Allows Jubilant Paraguayans to Look Past Dictatorship

By ALEXEI BARRIONUEVO
Published: April 22, 2008

ASUNCIÓN, Paraguay — [...] The stunning victory by Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, closed the book on the authoritarian regimes of the 1970s [...]

[...] After living more than 60 years under one-party rule, Paraguayans finally mustered the strength on Sunday to wrestle the ghost of the dictator Alfredo Stroessner to the ground. [...]

[...] In his 35 years in charge, the general amassed one of the worst human rights records in the hemisphere, with thousands of political arrests and numerous documented cases of torture and disappearances.

Removing the dictator without doing away with the party left a psychological attachment to authoritarian rule. [...]

[...]

The revelry on the streets in front of the Hall of Justice carried on deep into the morning. Bottle rockets flew. Couples danced and kissed. Drums beat wildly. Young people draped with Paraguayan flags clung to the columns of the building.

The Colorado Party was dead — at least, for now. [...]

- - NYTimes, 2008

* * * * *

Impunity for the crimes of past administrations is a continuing problem in Paraguay, but, at least, Paraguay, unlike some other (cough, cough) countries, did manage to muster a "truth and justice" commission:

http://www.verdadyjusticia.gov.py

Glen doesn't know much about what goes on on the ground overseas. He probably can't even tell you exactly what "the green zone" was in Iraq, and why it was called that.

Sometimes torture works, sometimes it doesn't. I know of three ocassions when it has worked, but I will not tell you what they were.

Also -- many of the things that are being called "torture" are not. I do not count sleep depravation or sensory depravation as torture. PsyOps is a totally different discipline.

Different things work for different detainees. I know of one Iraqi detainee who spilled his guts in exchange for some girly magazines. Lots of others told all for cash.

In the field, you use what tools you have. The more tools you have, the better.

Is there any authority which allows trials in absentia that you are aware of?

How do "they" plan to hang on to this power?

A couple of possibilities.

1. There really is only ONE political party in the USA, and they are running Obama Good Cop just the same way they ran GWB Bad Cop ...

2. There really are TWO political parties in the USA, and in 4 or 8 years "they" will be back, and while Obama may have dialled back the "law and order" overkill, international expansionism, military spending, spy on everyone torture whoever looks funny, etc, programmes ... he will have dialled UP the domestic spending, welfare, tax hikes, perhaps wage and price controls, social engineering, medicare, economic planning, etc, programmes ... so the ratchet effect ensures that the next POTUS after Obama will still inherit more power than GWB handed to Obama ...

That 2nd option often seems like the more likely, but maybe thats just an artefact of the effectiveness of the good cop bad cop routine?

I mean, given that BOTH parties programmes are almost entirely un-Constitutional ...

In either case, we the people, are being royally screwed.

And that, as they say, is THE PLAN.