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Will Obama Prosecute Bush's Team For Torture?
Recognizing that his nomination would embroil the Obama presidency in distracting controversy, Brennan took his name out of consideration. But he also struck back at his critics saying that his position on torture had been mischaracterized and insisting that he had not been “involved in the decision-making process.” The controversy over Brennan was the first of what may yet be a series of skirmishes over how Obama handles the torture issue.
Those raising the issue are not really focused on retribution or the punishment of Bush administration officials. The American political system operates on the basis of precedents and their concern is that the Bush torture program, if allowed to pass without challenge, will be a precedent to which future presidents may turn.
What are the new president’s options? He certainly could not simply have his attorney general launch a criminal probe. The criminal justice system demands that investigations operate apart from the world of political decision making. So, he has two other options: appoint a commission to investigate the matter and render a report or simply walk away.
A number of voices have been raised in opposition to the commission proposal: former Justice Department lawyers Bob Litt and Jack Goldsmith, former CIA official John Brennan, and a number of Congressional leaders, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. They all raise principled concerns about the adverse effect an inquiry would have and urge the country, in effect, to “move on.” An even more extreme position is staked out by William Kristol, who characterizes the engineers of the torture policy as heroes and suggests that Bush both pardon them and give them the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, each has his or her own particular reason to fear coming under a commission’s scrutiny. Litt has been hired as counsel to former CIA general counsel Scott Muller, whose conduct Mukasey puts squarely in the center of the decision to introduce torture. Brennan helped assemble and run the CIA’s counterterrorism center and may have been involved in implementation of some aspects of the controversial policy. Goldsmith, who published an op-ed in the Washington Post on November 26 opposing a commission, was a junior member of the “war council” of Bush administration lawyers closely tied to the introduction of torture as a matter of policy; he also served as a legal advisor to Defense Department general counsel Jim Haynes, whose role was key to the entire process. Any commission would be scrutinizing Goldsmith’s work and dealings very closely. And congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi, Jay Rockefeller (of the Senate Intelligence Committee) and Jane Harman (of the House Intelligence Committee), were members of the “Gang of Eight” briefed on the details of their program. Any commission would certainly reflect on the problems of congressional oversight of the torture program and especially the curious silence of the Democratic leadership.
So how will Barack Obama deal with this troubling question? Obviously, if Bush issues a blanket pardon, it would make the issue much simpler, taking the sting out of a probe. Bush would have to cope with the public anger that such pardons usually provoke. And that explains why Bush has sent a signal—though not one that binds him in any way—that he won’t issue a pardon.
Time is on Obama’s side. He has no need to make any final decisions on the matter until after Bush leaves the Oval Office. That would leave it to Bush to take the sort of gamble he’s taken many times in his presidency—or not. Only this time, it would reflect on the responsibility and culpability of some of his closest advisors.
Scott Horton is a law professor and writer on legal and national security affairs for Harper's Magazine and The American Lawyer, among other publications.
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Surely Mr. Horton, you realize that President-elect Obama, has made statements to the press that he will not pursue any prosecutions of the Bush administration appointees for their illegal and immoral acts.
We have before us the world, watching to see whether as a nation we are, a nation of the rule of law and whether anyone is above the law.
In this I predict, that there are no prosecutions of the Bush appointees or Bush himself for the war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed in the name of security and peace. Bush himself, should be prosecuted for the war crimes and crimes against humanity that he endorsed while in office. Example: Charles Taylor of Liberia.
No one is above the law of international justice, yet President Bush and his cronies will get away with the very same crimes that have been committed by others.
The only way that these criminals would and could be prosecuted, would be for them to be hauled in front of the International Courts of Justice and held for trial, i.e. Charles Taylor and also the priests and nuns of Rawanda that helped in the genocide of the Hutus'.
A pre-emptive pardon might have the perverse effect of making it much more likely that the Bush criminals will be indicted in Europe. One of the guidelines for invoking international jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity is that the defendant's national courts are unable or unwilling to operate in a particular case. A pre-emptive pardon would create a much stronger case for The Hague to intervene.
There are a number of Bush-era officials such as David Addington who will probably never be able to travel overseas for fear of being detained and tried for their crimes.
What about pre-emptive pardons for the knowing and deliberate FISA violations? What about pre-emptive pardons for the abuses of the Justice department?
This administration's criminals should be indicted here at home and if not I would support an international tribunal.
"william kristol, who characterizes the engineers of the torture policy as heroes and suggests that Bush both pardon them and give them the Presidential Medal of Freedom."
kristol is the kind of snot nosed coward every kid on the playground, even those that weren't bullies, wanted to punch in his smirky, smarmy, elitist mouth and send him running home to his mommy. Definitely a fox news type of guy.
Mr Horton, take a stand here. If not, this is just another poor history report.
I agree with Rocket88 - President Obama can pre-emptively pardon the bunch to establish a legal precedent to reinforce the fact that their actions were indeed illegal - without creating the money sucking distraction of a protracted commission and prosecution. We don't need the convictions, but we do need the legal precedent.
Jus Cogen's is the term that will forever leave these war criminals exposed to law, when that system is returned to its normal functions, sooner or later. A Jus Cogen is a law that cannot be broken, ie no law can be made to allow slavery or torture, etc. War crimes have no statute of limitation and they would have to be pardoned world wide forever and this is just not reality. It may be true while our country is in the midst of an overthrow, reminiscent of the Business Plot, in fact, many of the same names surface.
The Bush family has prior history of war crimes, in fact, Bush's grandpap's company was seized for trading with the enemy, Hitler that is. Rove's grandpap built the Nazi war ovens. Obama may or may not be the man to prosecute these men and any actions to cover, may later implicate him in being involved in the crimes via coverup.
To find out more about the Business Plot 2, visit www.iviewit.tv for information on how and why the executive and judicial branches of government were seized back in 2001.
Best of luck exposing this macabre group of men attempting to act above the law by overthrowing our system of law. This country will have no moral decency until these men are hung for treason and torture, anyone who opposes the system of jurisprudence in favor of pardon's or changing laws to protect the guilty should feel the grip of the noose as accomplice.
Bush will not pardon anybody who worked for the White House. He will not use the power because the man has no clue what he as done over the last eight years. He is not only a pathological liar, but a psychopathic liar. For him to issue a pardon would be for him to admit that there were wrongdoings in his White House.
Bush believes that he saved America from terrorists, Bush believes that the invasion of Iraq saved democracy in our time, Bush believes that dropping 12 billion dollars right in the streets of the Green City was a good idea, Bush thinks that doubling--and soon tripling the national debt during his terms was fiscally responsible....
On ABC he actually had the balls to say he never saw the Iraq war coming. Even after Ron Suskind, Paul O'Neill, and fifty other authors have documented that w wanted to invade Iraq before he even was elected by the Supreme Court.
And there was no possible way to to interpret his surprise at our invasion into Iraq than to link 9/11 to Sadaam. I'm not kidding. Last night he was linking 9/11 to Sadaam.The emperor has no clothes but you could put him in front of a mirror and he would ask you if you like his tie.
The wisest way to deal with this problem is the way South Africa dealt with crimes committed under apartheid. Form a truth and reconciliation commission. Anyone who comes forward to testify truthfully gets immunity. If they lie, then they get prosecuted for perjury. Anyone who gets implicated, but doesn't come forth to testify gets prosecuted. That way we can at least learn who did what so that the history books get it right and the lessons from this sordid episode in our nation's history are learned and the errors not repeated.
Thank you.
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