Ok, as a general rule I do not think it's a great idea to send former presidents to the calaboose, unless their actions really rise to the level of high crimes. I think the old "unindicted, co-conspirator" dodge is fine for most stuff, because most stuff is probably driven by paranoia and expediency. However, after 7 plus years to think it through and failing to get it right, I have to say that the Bush administration needs to just march on over to the Atlanta Penitentiary and check in for the next 18 months or so. These guys figured that they were above the law...
The Journal has some interesting comments from Mukasey. It appears that Mukasey knew exactly what he was saying when he kept dodging the waterboarding issue -- he knew it was wrong, it knew it was torture, he knew it was illegal and he didn't want the president, the vice president and a whole bunch of other hacks down to Laura and Barney (note, I think Laura, Barney and the Twins are clean on this one...not sure about Ms Beazley.) tossed in the federal pen, even if we built a special edition Camp Cupcake ( Cupcake Ranch?) for the bastards.
Mukasey's logic is now staggering.
The 67-year-old former federal judge in New York, who took office 14 months ago, said in an interview that the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama faces a "clusterfuck" as it tries to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Word that Mr. Obama plans to issue an executive order to close the prison has caused worry among Justice Department lawyers who fear evidence backing the cases against many of the approximately 250 detainees wouldn't hold up in a conventional court proceeding.
Let's see. Despite the latest nonsense from the Supremes, I think we can safely say that the general tendency in our legal system is that evidence improperly obtained is not admissible in trial. It's called the fruit of a poisoned tree. So, these "armed combatants" should be treated as, oh, I don't know, "prisoners of war." No trials. Now, our guys have other problems...if they conspired to torture, allowed torture and conspired to mislead the nation in the world into thinking that they did not torture but used harsh interrogation techniques, well, that sounds like a conspiracy to violate US and international law. It sounds like war crimes, of the most cold-blooded sort. Which should be treated accordingly.
I've already suggested what should happen to Gonzales, a job as a greeter for Donkey shows in Nuevo Laredo. For the others, right down the line, fines, loss of pensions, disbarrment and extradition to the Hague if indicted seems ok to me. But of course, I never confused my oath to "preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States" with some version of an oath of fealty to Adolph Hitler. Judge Mukasey, in his gyrations to protect Bush, Cheney, et. al is doing just that.
Now, what I find even more interesting, "going forward," "looking ahead, not behind" is what does the Obama administration do? Punt? Then, what does Eric Holder do? He's called out the thugs, not what does he do? While Obama is too cold and analytical to do a public woodsheding like Colin Powell endured after the Korea thing eight years ago, if he tells Holder not to do the right thing, then Holder has a rough choice as do a bunch of other people.
It may be worse than that, of course. The House isn't burdened with the closure nonsense; Kennedy and Chris Dodd are lions in winter, and may decide to go out swinging in the Senate Judiciary. Imagine the Congress tirelessly pursuing the former Bush administration officials the way the House and Senate went after Bill Clinton. Easy to decide that this isn't all that important, but we're going to be wrong on that. Yeah, the economy is tits up too...do the same thing. Or, give up any pretensions that we are any better than any other Republic falling into oligarchy and eventual dictatorship.
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