Apr 19 2009

A Disgrace. And A War Criminal.

(10 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)


When President’s Obstruct Justice They Disgrace Us All

oleeb at TPM, April 19, 2009, 1:06PM

President Obama’s morally indefensible decision to block investigations and prosecutions of those in the American government who planned and carried out torture both at home and abroad is a clear and disgraceful obstruction of justice.  When Republicans obstruct justice, Democrats are quick to criticize and rightfully so.  But legitimate criticism of obstruction of justice is based on opposition to shielding criminal actions and illegality, not because a Republican did it.  There is no excuse for allowing barbaric criminal acts to go unpunished no matter who committed them.

Let’s be clear.  The torture planned and carried out by the United States was illegal, aka a crime.  The investigation and potential prosecution of these crimes is a criminal and legal matter.  It is not a political matter and should not be treated as such.  The President makes a grave moral error by playing political games with such serious criminal activity.  War crimes are not political.  They shock the conscience of humanity because of their brutality and barbarism.  If these crimes are not heinous enough for the President to allow the law to be carried out and all the perpetrators from top to bottom made to answer for their crimes and complicity then what would it take for a crime to be heinous enough or so unspeakable that he would no longer be willing to obstruct justice in an effort to protect the criminals?

[snip]

President Obama garnered the support and votes of millions of people because he said he would be different.  He pointedly marketed himself as not being tainted by a lifetime in Washington.  Well some people are quick learners as it appears our President is when it comes to turning a blind eye to war crimes.  By failing to do his duty and by obstructing the legal process he is obligated to carry forward, the President disgraces not only himself, but all Americans.

Regardless of party, any President who knowingly and willingly obstructs investigation into crimes that he and everyone on earth knows have occured and which we are by our own laws and by international law are obligated to investigate, is committing a crime himself.  If we are a nation of laws and not of men then now is the time to prove it.  the President needs to change course on this matter, but if he doesn’t we, as citizens need to do whatever we can to force him to do the right thing.  Those who do nothing contribute to this evil through our indifference.  No political rationale, no excuses, no fantasy about a secret strategy to do the right thing in the end excuses the President’s or the Attorney General’s immoral conduct as it relates to the war crimes we know were committed during the previous administration.

Remember, silence is consent.

25 comments

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    • Edger on April 19, 2009 at 20:28
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    Believe it.

    • Edger on April 19, 2009 at 21:35
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    for Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, and Jay Bybee (who is now, inexplicably, a federal judge). In the span of just a few hours, those ignominious men and dozens more learned that they would be spared from prosecution either here in the United States, where they formulated our odious torture policies, or in Spain, where or upon whose citizens those illegal policies were evidently practiced. Somewhere, Dick Cheney is smiling.

    One by one, the hammer blows fell upon civil libertarians and millions of other Americans who believe that the people who legally sanctioned and then implemented torturous “enhanced interrogation tactics” should have had to defend their conduct in our courts of law. One by one, those enthusiastic supporters of the Obama administration’s legal values and policies realized that they had just lost a battle (been wiped out, in fact) that they had every reason to believe they would win. There will be no torture trials. Period.

    First, the Justice Department announced – as it was slickly releasing still more “torture memos” – that it would not just pass on prosecuting any Bush-era offenders but offer those very same offenders indemnity from prosecution or even Congressional investigation.

    This means that former Bush officials will be given legal support by the U.S. government if and when they are questioned about their role in water-boarding and other tactics. Merry Christmas, John Yoo; you may go down in history as one of the worst government lawyers ever but at least you won’t have to stand in the dock.

    …

    …in the absence of a torture commission, we are effectively done with any sort of official exploration of our torturous past. Culpable men of one administration will hereby be protected by men of another administration. Nixon went to war with the New York Times and the Washington Post over the Pentagon Papers to protected Kennedy and Johnson. Obama now has thumbed his nose at some of his most enthusiastic supporters to protect some of Bush’s men. And on and on it goes. Why anyone truly believed that this centuries-old dynamic would change, even with a man who made “change” his campaign tune, is beyond me.  

    Annals of Torture: End Of The Story?

    Andrew Cohen, CBS

  3. ‘Obama has violated international law’ – UN investigator

    19 April, 2009, 16:18 on Russia Today

    United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak has accused US President Barack Obama of violating international law for not bringing CIA torture agents to court.

    According to the UN investigator, Obama’s decision not to prosecute CIA agents accused of using torture tactics is unacceptable. Nowak says the US is bound under the UN Convention Against Torture to prosecute those who engage in it.

  4. I will never look at 4 19…the minute before 4:20, the same way again.

  5. God damn, I am frothing pissed about this.

    Hey, you haven’t been crossing much lately, but I would LOVE a copy of this one.

    He’s a coward or capitulater or worse.

    • Edger on April 20, 2009 at 04:33
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  7. have we had a president who was not a war criminal?

  8. I will eat my television circuit board by circuit board.

    • dkmich on April 20, 2009 at 12:49
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    Brazen is the word for it.   Spend two years telling the voters one thing; and in 90 days, laugh in their faces because they were dumb enough to believe you.

    The actions are bad enough.  The lies and betrayal are quite another.  

    • dkmich on April 20, 2009 at 13:01
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    At least, he is pulling his mask off sooner rather than later.  Maybe people will finally see him for what he is and start to put pressure on him to deliver one or two of the promises he made and people were stupid enough to believe.   This is a pretty biting article.  Meteor Blades finally got something onto the other place’s front page. You know MB; he’s such a damned purity troll.    

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