The Case for Prosecution
Salon‘s Joan Walsh writes about the case for prosecution:
The blogosphere has been charged with debate about impeaching Jay Bybee, the deputy attorney general whose name is on arguably the worst torture memo released last Thursday. Bruce Ackerman wrote a convincing case for impeaching Bybee on Friday; today the New York Times joined the cause with a fiery editorial: “These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him.”
But the editorial goes beyond that point – read the whole thing – to make the case that President Obama and Congress have a legal obligation to investigate the entire chain of command behind Bybee and other government lawyers’ sick, skewed defense of torture.
Walsh also points to Scott Shane’s article in yesterday’s New York Times, which provides the backstory of Abu Zubaydah’s torture:
… In the case of Abu Zubaydah, U.S. officials claimed they were torturing a top al-Qaida leader with a strong psychological and spiritual backbone; instead they tortured a flunky who was probably crazy before they tortured him, and who gave them nothing of value despite the abuse.
There were a couple of fascinating tidbits in the Times piece that I hadn’t known. For one thing, the useful piece of information Zubaydah gave the U.S. – that the top planner of 9/11 was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – came before the torture began, when Zubaydah was interrogated by FBI agents who were playing good cop, helping him get medical treatment for the wounds he suffered in his capture.
Second, and this was chilling, some of the interrogators on hand began to blanch at the abuse of Zubaydah, and also came to believe he had no more to tell them – but “top CIA officials back at headquarters” continued to push for more harsh treatment. I don’t care if Obama says he has no plans to punish them; we need to know the names of these incompetent sadists.
9 Responses to “The Case for Prosecution”
Well don't get distracted by the head hunt too quickly..
After all, for every name you were given there are ten that you weren't who are just as culpable.
I think instead we should be pressuring the administration to clean house and “quietly dismiss” any employees of the CIA, say through a polygraph result, who are still loyal to Cheneyco and not Obama.
Since the CIA de facto runs the country, we should take steps to ensure that they represent and are loyal to the current administration We The People voted in. The alarming “leak” that allowed a “string of seemingly related bombings” [Reuters] in Bagdhad the day before Obama made an unannounced landing there is inDICKative of the fact that there needs to be a little housecleaning.
Give them a golden handshake and ask them to go away.
I wouldn't care if the CIA killed KSM 183 times and do not support these suggested prosecutions.
News flash.
Enraged and enpowered far left launches witch hunt. Anyone ever associated with the Bush Administration, who ever voted for the Bush Administration or anyone who ever thought about supporting the war in Iraq is deemed fair game.
Salem Witch Trials to begin soon.
Is ther anything that an American Government Agent/Soldier could do to an Arab/Muslim that you would not support?
I say we go back to the real source of the problem, and impeach and prosecute Carter for creating and arming the Taliban in the first place, which lead to all this. Or maybe we find any living CIA agents that helped re-establish the Peacock throne in Iran. Or we dig up the bodies of the Crusaders, have them flown to the US, and try them.
Torture AND Murder are both war crimes.
News Alert. US missile kills 3 innocent civilians in PAKISTAN. Pakistan???
Obama is a war criminal. We are attacking a country we are not even at war with. Does not matter what his intentions was. Does not matter that it was an accident. Does not matter that he missile went off course. Does not matter that he was sorry. What matters is that innocent women and children were just murdered by Barak Obama.
Warm up the electric chair. The democrats in congress expressing their faux rage at the Bush supposed torture should be outraged at this. They should begin impeachment proceedings at once.
Left wing spin to follow…..most likely along the lines that “Bush is Hitler” “Cheney is Stalin” “Palin is a slut” Pick your flavor.
Wow, I wonder if the CIA blogs?…lol….
I think they've got an agent or two on the net posting as the common Joe eh? Just maybe…lol..
“common flyover folk'? You talking about me?
Holly,
Of course you don't. Your heart is filled with the desire for revenge.
AR,
No doubt our past meddling in the Middle East and Central Asia is coming back to bite us. At least then we were worried about the Soviets. Now all of our trouble seems to stem from the idea that we need to strictly manage the affairs of countries that have oil, despite the fact they are perfectly willing to sell it to us anyways.