First off tonight, I have to say once again that I’m really hoping President Obama succeeds. And the more I listen to Republicans, the more I think he’ll succeed, if for no other reason, these Republicans are getting scarier and scarier. Tonight, for example, as he was defending the torture pracitces of the United States, I saw a clip of Rush Limbaugh actually slapping himself in the face and saying something like, “There, I’m torturing myself.” As if the torture techniques that have been in the news lately amount to a little slap in the face. These Republicans would be laughable, if it wasn’t so disgusting what we all, as a nation, are going through because of them. They had the opportunity to blame this stuff on Bush/Cheney and take the “high road,” but they’ve chosen to “fight” no matter how absurd their position is. I mean, these guys (meaning the remaining Republicans in “power”) are pathetic!
That all being said, I’m still feeling the urge to give President Obama some advice. Now, I know how presumptuous that is and I know that there is no chance that he’s going to even hear my advice let alone listen to it. However, I’m expecting it to make me feel better just giving it to him, and basically, that’s my purpose for writing in the first place. My previous couple of posts were essentially aimed at the reported decision by the Obama administration to “look forward and not back,” thus allowing the torturers of the Bush administration to “scate” and avoid anykind of accountability for clear violations of international law. The worse part of that plan, to me, was the fact that these are laws that state right in them that choosing not to prosecute isn’t an option. That is to say, if and when a country is aware of illegal torturing they are obligated to prosecute the offenders. That is why the judge in Spain was preparing to indict several of the Americans who were responsible for authorizing this heinous program. Oh yes, and by the way, if you think – as Limbaugh apparently does – that the “enhanced interrogation techniques” in question amounted to a slap in the face, then you haven’t read any part of the available information that has come out.
If you’ve seen the pictures that surfaced from Abu Ghraib in Iraq during the early part of the Iraq occupation, you have a better idea of what we’re talking about (and I’m still curious why these Republicans seem to be OK with a small number of Army “grunts” sitting in military brigs for Abu Ghraib, while the men who ordered them to do it are walking free). As disgusting as those pictures were, much of what is in the news now is far worse from the point of view of the “health” of the victim (I hate to call some of these people victims because some of them are genuinely criminals of the worse kind – but our CIA and those in the Bush administration that perpetrated this horrible scheme have effectively turned them into victims). There have been reports that some of the people “interrogated” have died, which turn the interrogators into murderers – should all this end up in an impartial courtroom. I believe what the Republicans are trying to do at this point is make sure that there is no possibility of an impartial courtroom as one way to get people like Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, John Yoo, Judge Bybee, George Tenet, and others (possibly including President Bush himself) off. So, essentially what I’m saying here is that President Obama doesn’t have the legal “right” to “excuse” these international crimes, in fact just the opposite – he’s compelled to seek justice for the people who have been tortured.
Evidently, President Obama is beginning to come to his senses. Yesterday, I heard reports – and listened to comments from the President – that implied he’s going to “allow” his Attorney General, Eric Holder, to decide where this investigation should go. Of course, that is where this should have been right from the start. Obama should have stayed completely out of this, at least publicly, while in private urging Holder to do the right thing. And, at this point, I don’t believe our government has any option but to have a thorough investigation of all the allegations which I believe will ultimately end up with some members of the Bush administration facing prosecution. Additionally, I understand why President Obama went to the CIA and assured them that anyone who “followed these orders” will not be prosecuted, but I totally disagree with what he did. As I stated in an earlier post that is a VERY SLIPPERY SLOPE! Were the Germans who “just followed orders” at Auschwitz innocent? Was the Japanese soldier that was prosecuted after WW II for waterboarding Americans innocent because he was “just following orders?” I could go on with the examples of why this is a totally wrong position for Obama to take. WHAT HE NEEDS TO DO IS GET OUT OF THE WAY AND LET THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM TAKE CARE OF THE PROBLEM NO MATTER HOW IT TURNS OUT!
If I was talking to President Obama right now I would say to him almost exactly what he said at the CIA – something like “It’s alright to acknowledge mistakes, that’s how we learn.” OK, Mr. Obama, you’ve made some pretty egregious mistakes here, especially for a constitutional law expert. Please stop worrying about whether everyone’s happy or not. With every decision you make someone’s going to be unhappy. What we need to see from you is CONSISTENCY! AND YOU WERE ELECTED AS A PROGRESSIVE – YOU NEED TO ACT LIKE A PROGRESSIVE! It is obvious you’re trying to take a “pragmatic” approach to everything – and there’s some instance where that is appropriate – but not with our constitution and our legal system. THAT IS WHAT REALLY BROUGHT DOWN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION! Don’t continue to do this, or you will be having similar problems. Get away from all of this stuff publicly, and privately encourage your AG to regain the confidence of the American people in the Justice Department by demonstrating that – as you have said – IN AMERICA, NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW! That would be change that we could all (well, except Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Cheney, etc.) believe in!
THIS CHANGE (letting AG Holder investigate the wrongdoing) NEEDS TO HAPPEN FORTHWITH! Mr. President, trust me on this one – there is a whole bunch of more “stuff” that is going to be coming out about the Bush administration. Ultimately, we are going to be hearing the truth about Cheney “outing” Valerie Plame Wilson – now, you might not think that’s so important – but if you want to help the CIA out, that would be a good place to start. THAT IS AN UNBELIEVABLE AND UNACCEPTABLE PRECEDENT. We don’t hear much of an “uproar” over that anymore, but that, as you know Mr. Obama, was a treasonous act. CIA agents feeling like politicians will disclose their identities if they don’t “agree” with them is a far more dangerous precedent than a few agents being prosecuted because they committed war crimes that they clearly understood were illegal – to the point that they actually requested the phony legal documents “justifying” their actions. Also, I’ve mentioned my dissatisfaction many times with the continuation of the warrantless wiretapping policies. THIS NEEDS TO BE STOPPED! It is only a matter of time until this becomes a major issue, possibly on the same magnitude of the torturing. When sufficient numbers of Americans realize that you, President Obama, are allowing their phone calls to be monitered – THEY ARE GOING TO BE VERY UNHAPPY. And this is a potential issue that the Republicans could turn right around in your face after prosecutions for the torturing. PRESIDENT OBAMA, GET AWAY FROM THE WARRANTLESS WIRETAPPING AS WELL.
There is a lot more that we’re going to find out besides the stuff I’ve mentioned tonight and have been talking about for a couple months now (if that sounds like me patting myself on the back, well, I believe it is – now that I give it a smidgeon of thought). However, the news in this realm isn’t all bad. There hasn’t been much discussion about the FBI in all this, but they could come out of this “saga” as the “bright spot” regarding our government. If you don’t remember who Robert Meuller is, he was the FBI director during the “reign of Bush.” He was the man who went with Assistant Attorney General Comey to the hospital bed of John Ashcroft when Alberto Gonzales and Bush’s chief of staff (his name escapes me at the moment – more evidence that I should keep my day job :o) tried to get Ashcroft to sign a document giving legal justification to the illegal wiretapping that the Bush administration was doing. He showed then that he was (is) a man of courage and conviction and he did the same regarding the torture issue. Some of his agents questioned the “tactics” being used early on by the CIA and Pentagon interrogators – and he orderred them to leave the room, basically, while this stuff was going on. ESSENTIALLY, HE REFUSED TO PARTICIPATE OR ALLOW HIS AGENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS ILLEGAL ACTIVITY. He set the example of why the “I’m just following orders” excuse is a bunch of “bull.” These guys all knew what they were doing was against international law – and they did it anyway. So, getting back to my advice to President Obama: Just run the government, work to pass the historic legislation that’s “on the table,” and let Eric Holder and the Justice department investigate the Bush administration with no preconceived agenda. And, let the investigations of the torturing, illegal wiretapping, and the other actions of the Bush administration which were in violation of the law be guided by a strict adherance to our legal principles. Prove once and for all that “In America, no one, not even the President, is above the law!”