John Dean's latest post on FindLaw, "The Politics of Excusing Torture In The Name of National Security" offers a bit of insight that some may find useful in trying to understand President Obama's motivation(s) in going after the people in the Bush administration who have apparently committed war crimes.
This diary is not offered as an apology for how Obama has managed this situation. I don't want war criminals to escape unpunished, but I understand that politics is far more complicated than we would like.
For those who remain critical of John Dean for his part in the Nixon/Watergate fiasco, I refer you to a comment he made in his May 6, 2009 appearance on Keith Olbermann's Countdown:
Now, in Watergate, when I found myself on the wrong side of the law, I quickly got myself on the other side and did the best I could to sort of get that unraveled.
Given his history since then, I have come to have more than a little respect for him.
In his latest FindLaw post, Mr. Dean says:
Those who believe that the Obama Administration should expose and prosecute persons who committed war crimes should understand that it is not going to happen the way they would like, or as quickly, because Obama is having internal battles as well. His pullback is not occurring because he fears that Republicans will attack him (he knows they will); rather it is occurring because he needs the national security community behind him, and they fear they will be further embarrassed and humiliated if more information is revealed.
Dean says political appointees come and go; meanwhile, the people who actually run the government try to keep them from screwing things up too badly. "Nowhere are there more of these permanent career professionals than in the departments and agencies that constitute the national security community."
He says that over the past eight years the national security professionals have been humiliated. The Bush Administration "has marginalized them, manipulated them, and beaten them down," with Dick Cheney being the principal offender. I will not recount the many ways Cheney subverted the national security professionals, but Dean provides numerous examples.
Now, he says, "Obama needs to win their hearts and minds." Obama needs their support to effectively lead and protect the country. "Rather than risk alienation, Obama has given in to them, at the expense of his natural constituency, the political progressives."
Dean concludes:
I would encourage those who are demanding exposure and prosecution to keep pounding their drums. Clearly, they are on the right side of this issue, and Obama knows it. While he is going to placate the national security bureaucrats from time to time in order to lead them effectively, hopefully the pressure for him to deal with the atrocious behavior of Bush and Cheney is only just getting started.
There is much more detail in Dean's discussion, which I recommend reading. Fair use limits what I can post here.