The Nation's blog reports that the number one question being asked on the Obama transition team's website is whether the new president will appoint a special prosecutor to probe into the matters of US government-sanctioned torture and illegal surveillance. As I contemplate the legacy being bequeathed to us by this most wretched of chief executives and his administration, surely the worst item--even worse than the senseless wars--is how this administration essentially legalized torture and domestic spying with slick, unscrupulous lawyers and constant pushing people's fear button. Justifying blatant violations of the Constitution by cloaking presidential misconduct and lawbreaking under the rubric of the powers of the commander-in-chief. I'm just now finishing a book, The Dark Side by Jane Mayer, that lays out the story of how this happened in all its disheartening detail. It is a disgusting chapter in our history, and we should be hanging our heads in shame.
But some of us aren't. Right wing nuts like Charles Krauthammer argue for exonerating everybody directly involved with torture because the country has been safe since 9/11 and "These people did what they did under orders and with patriotism." Read that again. This reasoning (politely so-called) is exactly the argument the US and the other allied powers repudiated when it was made by the Nazi war criminals at Nuremburg, a repudiation which became a foundational principle in international law. Glen Greenwald in this usual incisive fashion demolishes this argument. His piece also points out that almost 100 detainees lost their lives while in US custody, and to this day over three dozen people believed held by the US have simply disappeared, their whereabouts and fates unknown. See here and here.
This is an outrage, but to tell the truth, I'm not expecting the Obama administration to prosecute anybody for these crimes. I've already seen enough of what "bi-partisanship" means to doubt that the new president will pursue justice. This little matter of torture can be swept under the rug in the glare of the economic crisis. Obama seems pitifully intent on securing the support of the Republicans. And we wouldn't want to do anything to upset them, would we?
2 comments:
Your observation about the pitiful Krauthammer's justification of evil is very apt.
I mean, that is the whole point, isn't it. If the torture-mongers had been evil, we would have said they are really, really bad guys, and then launched a flea-brained war against them.
Your mention of Nuremberg brings to mind the latest Ann Coulter business. She is so much the kindred spirit of Julius Streicher, the rabid Nazi, who was on trial there.
Although her rants are not anti-Semitic, they are rants and tirades indeed. I wish NBC would realize that the object of this type of free speech is to motivate the less stable of her base into an act of violence......just as Julius Streicher did.
I could not agree more with you about Ann Coulter. I think she's a truly evil person, too. Like Streicher, an apt comparison if ever there was, she is intent on stirring up hatred. Once that's done, it will produce violence, sure as day follows night. It continues to amaze me just how well mouthpieces of the lunatic right continue to flourish. Coulter is Exhibit A.
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