On Friday, my diary discussed the moral absurdity created by the Spain court's decision not to prosecute top officials involved in torture because they "weren't there," coupled with Obama's grant of blanket immunity to the CIA operatives who actually carried it out.
Some of you suggested that Obama was leaving the door open to prosecution of the top perpetrators. Wrong. As Kossacks have already blogged about over the weekend, Rahm Emanuel slammed that door shut when he said that President Obama opposes any effort to prosecute the Justice Deartment lawyers who drafted the heinous memos devising, authorizing and justifying torture.
Contrary to what the MSM would have you believe, this is not a middle ground. It's a free pass.
First, the MSM is pushing the notion that the White House has struck a "middle ground" after the release of the torture memos by granting all the players immunity. This is not a "middle ground." The usual transparency and open government advocates secured the release of long sought-after memos that were in the public's interest to see. The torturers got off for war crimes. Who's the winner in that one?
The tragic choice here is not the torture. It's the decision to willingly blind ourselves to U.S.-sponsored brutality in order to "look forward"--an absurdity on its face. Because the Obama administration has promised immunity, then Attorney General Holder, the nation's top prosecutor, should seal the deal. Transactional (total) immunity--a rarity at the federal level--is granted to a witness in exchange for testimony or production of other evidence. That means that there must be nothing short of a full public airing of American-sponsored torture, including but not limited to, testimony under oath by both perpetrators and victims, publication of the still-secret OLC torture memos, airing of the "missing" videotapes--because if there's going to be no justice, at least there will be reform.Second, there is a difference between retribution and justice. There is a difference between retaliation motivated by spite or vindictiveness and justice motivated by lawfulness. Shame on President Obama for deliberately conflating the two when he knows better. Investigation (even absent the possibility of prosecution) forces a democratic society to confront the evil of torture in an open way. Otherwise, brutality operates off the radar screen of accountability in some sort of extralegal "twilight zone."
Finally, I would like a presidential pardon for Thomas Tamm (who revealed warrantless wiretapping), Matthew Diaz (who revealed the names of those being held on GITMO), myself (who revealed the first known instance of torture and government misconduct post-9/11), and anyone else who helped expose the illegalities of the prior administration. If the President of the United States is going to grant immunity to everyone from the telecoms to the torturers, then pardon those of us who have been criminally investigated, bankrupted, blacklisted, and are still suffering the personal and professional fallout of what really was pure "retribution" for doing the right thing.
ACTION:
* Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/... and share your outrage.
* D.C. Office of Bar Counsel: (202) 638-1501
has authority to investigate Yoo, Bybee and Bradbury, but is still investigating me. Anyone can file a complaint.
* Call American Bar Association (312) 988-5500