Yesterday's New York Times included an article by David Johnston and Charlie Savage detailing President-elect Obama's stated reluctance to investigate Dubya administration policies, like implementing waterboarding--excuse me, torture. Obama gave a reasonable explanation for his reluctance: he does not want career intelligence officers to be looking over their shoulders, in fear of their own government, as that would severely hamper their ability to do their jobs.
Fair enough. But going after the operatives who carried out the Dubya administration policies is NOT what those of us demanding accountability are asking for. That would be no different from limiting prosecutions for the My Lai massacre to Lt. William Calley [which was all that was done during Vietnam, if you'll recall--Ed.]. Those of us demanding accountability are asking Obama to go after the real sources of the problem, to wit: President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Oddly enough, Dubya's self-indulgent and yet myopic view of his presidency as expressed yesterday during his final press conference establishes my point. Bush himself admitted to being in on the process and of approving the use of torture techniques like waterboarding. Cheney already admitted to his role. This is high crime, people! It is war crime. We used to prosecute people who committed these atrocities on Americans. We should not be doing such inexcusable things to others.
To let Dubya and Cheney totally off the hook would set a very, very dangerous precedent. It would give ANY future American president the power to break the law virtually at will. No one person should have so much power. That's the ultimate reason we broke from England in 1776 in the first place.
Nobody--especially NOT the President--is above the law. Nobody has the authority to decide which laws s/he will and will not obey--not without accepting the consequences of being caught breaking them.
To say he doesn't want to rattle career intelligence officers is to obfuscate the issue. To say he wants to look forward, not backwards (even if it is for the sake of the country), is to avoid the consequences of ignoring the issue. It is imperative that the Obama administration take steps to ensure that justice is done and that war criminals, no matter who they be, answer for their crimes.
Otherwise the change that Obama has promised for America is NOT change that's good for America.
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