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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I guess some of those dubious when the reference was made yesterday had some reason to be.
The baseline legitimacy that might be given to Yoo reminds me about a debate over at Balkinization when Marty Lederman (who joined the Obama OLC) basically argued that official OLC policy should generally be deemed law when deciding if an official should be liable for punishment. He felt there was horrible policy, policy based on patently unreasonable application of the law, but was hard pressed to admit there should be liability if the officials were not "rogue."
The participants of that blog also circled the wagons regarding even having Yoo's university support an investigation of his actions. This "mainstream" sentiment underlines what we are up against.
[btw who knew Yoo was married to Peter Arnett's daughter! apparently, she is against his politics/policy
http://www.lawschool.com/yoo.htm]
Cause the higher up you go the more it will end up as a constitutional authority issue between congress and the presidency and no one is eager to dispute the other's claims in court because losing means losing that authority forever.
Nothing, nothing, nothing.
What a bunch of cowardly little sh*ts we have in the upper reaches of our Oligarchy.
Deceitful, disgusting and dangerous.
I guess that Holder and Obama must be that afraid of the CIA/military complex...or, the CIA must have something so explosive on the Democrats that would blow them out as much as the Bush Republicans.
Only an independent prosecutor will save us now....anything else allows the perpetrators to get off scot free...and simply sets the stage for the next wannabe dictator to assume these powers.
And to think I once believed that Obama would promise real change from the Bushies....too bad for me.
Anthony
then it must be shot down, not just at places like this, but everywhere.
This should be a warning to the "underlings." Work for the administration at your risk and peril, but it is true there are rarely any who resign,and those who do are never heard of again due to the media blackout.
Is this another cover-up for the preceding administration? It certainly looks like it. It gives off the feeling of walking on quicksand, the kind where banana republics go to die.
Why does this all have that slow motion feel of a crash happening? I saw a crash once just ahead of me, the funny thing was how there was no sound at all.
On a brief piece on NPR at the top of the hour, they described what was done to detainees as "harsh interrogation techniques, some of which have historically been considered torture".
Some progress, but not enough. I would have, at least, added "and legally" to "historically".
having to rely on Balthazar Garzon and the Spanish inquisition for justice? At least he's starting at the top:
http://www.nowpublic.com/world/spain-launches-criminal-investigation-us-torture-gitmo
Will the Spaniards also fold when the US threatens to close bases and cut off military assistance funds or when Zapatero gets voted out?
A good question, in the midst of another good post.
We can know that we tortured men to death and do nothing, because we are desensitized to killing. We routinely kill innocent men, women, and children around the world on the flimsiests of excuses.
Our government had know for years that Saddam and Iraqi Baathist Party were secular and not in league with al Qaeda at all. Yet we invaded Iraq and decimated an entire country based on false information --- that any thinking American knew in their heart was false.
So Glenn, what is so different here that makes it any worse than bombing wedding parties for sport? Not any is my answer. Therefore, I wager that the rulers in DC will not go after anyone here other than a scapegoat or two.
Remember, if Holder does what we here feel is necessary, he is going directly against Obama. If Obama did what we feel is necessary, he'd be going against a vague coalition which we can outline in the Senate (all Republicans, Lieberman, various Blue Dog Democrats) and the interests and voters that lie behind them. In other words, the political risk and therefore the courage needed, is much higher for Holder than for Obama.
On the other hand, perhaps it is easier for Holder to take the long view. E.g., should he even worry about whether Obama gets reelected?
I wish there were professional organizations of lawyers who took an unequivocal stand on this. While it might not stiffen the spine of a President, it might do so for a wavering Attorney-General. Namely, the knowledge that in the opinion of many, many respected colleagues, he will be doing the right thing.
Yes, we can only hope that Eric Holder will somehow come around to doing what is right.
I mean, we can only hope. We will sit here, keeping our fingers crossed, while the black box of American law enforcement operates in its opaque and inaccessible way. Maybe the output will go our way. Maybe not! Who knows?
See, there is one principle which is far more important than any other here, which is that we as citizens can, and should, do nothing, not get involved, just extend our middle fingers to the establishment and really let 'em have it.
So let's hope away! Being a politician means by definition that you are completely unbending, a totally rigid pillar (or whatever metaphor Holly McLaughlin prefers) of fixed belief that no external force can influence.
As for Glenn Greenwald's absolutist demands for high-level prosecutions, what could he possibly be thinking? Think about what would have happened after the second world war if we'd insisted on that. Who can imagine expending the political capital to try high-level leaders of a defeated regime and hold them to account for their policies? It never would have worked.
Or consider those French lunatics who wanted their government to try Maurice Papon for his Vichy-era crimes against humanity — 50 years after the fact! No reasonable person could ever seriously expect a nation to conduct such an investigation into one of its own, deeply respected aging statesmen.
Imagine if Papon had been tried, and then found guilty, and sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. Imagine the damage to French society of all that partisanship. Their country would be in ruins by now.
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
