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This, on the other hand, is awesome news
Sadly, No! —
Goody:
Obama’s plans for probing Bush torture
With growing talk in Washington that President Bush may be considering an unprecedented “blanket pardon” for people involved in his administration’s brutal interrogation policies, advisors to Barack Obama are pressing ahead with plans for a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses under Bush.
The Obama plan, first revealed by Salon in August, would emphasize fact-finding investigation over prosecution. It is gaining currency in Washington as ...
Obama’s Plans for Probing Bush Torture
Suburban Guerrilla —
Okay, this is what we’ve all been waiting for: Obama’s plans for dealing with these war crimes.
Nov. 13, 2008 | WASHINGTON — With growing talk in Washington that President Bush may be considering an unprecedented “blanket pardon” for people involved in his administration’s brutal interrogation policies, advisors to Barack Obama are pressing ahead with plans for a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses under Bush.
The Obama plan, first revealed by Salon in August, would emphasize fact-finding ...
Early Morning Swim
Firedoglake —
... Hulk getting smashed?
Nate thinks it will hold.
If so, Palin's ready to start shakin' up Washington.
Lawyering up in Minnesota.
Cleland ad biting Saxby in the ass.
Obama's plans for investigating torture.
From bring 'em on and smoke 'em out ... to this.
Ted Nugent goes hunting for RINOs.
Pardons and Prosecutions
The Mahablog —
... Mark Benjamin writes in Salon that Dubya might issue a blanket pardon for anyone in his administration involved in torture. Meanwhile, advisors to Barack Obama are pushing for a nonpartisan commission to investigate torture in the Bush Administration. ...
Nothing Surprising Here
Taylor Marsh —
... Today, as this article on Salon.com delineates, there’s a chance Obama would delve into what’s gone down under Bush-Cheney. But does anyone truly believe that
Barack Obama is going to go any further on torture than "fact-finding" during the Bush era? ...
I Swear
N/A —
... numbers which Bush wears like a badge of honor.
Privileged infomation here. Some forget Truman tried to quash subpoenas after he left office and Bush may do the same. The one truth of all presidents is that all of them eventually become ex-presidents, the members of the same secret society. I swear that presidents of the United States should serve the people, not each other’s interests in succession.
I swear Bush may try a blanket pardon for all his administration’s wrongdoing and that’s just ...
Obama intends to investigate use of torture by Bush Administration
Newshoggers.com —
... about an Obama plan to investigate the Administration, should he be
elected. Obama has said "If crimes have been committed, they should be
investigated." Salon reported this week that Obama advisors are developing plans for investigating abuse during Bush's tenure. ...
No More Mister Nice Blog — ... suggests in today's New York Times. Of course, as Mark Benjamin notes in Salon, he's going to issue blanket pardons; it's absurd to think he's going to be restrained by this objection mentioned by Benjamin: ...
The Torture Regime
Comments from Left Field —
... for everyone in his administration who took part in, planned, or knew about his torture regime; and the possibility of president-elect Obama authorizing a “truth and reconciliation” type commission to investigate same, this might be a good time for me to point to a review I’ve written of Jane Mayer’s book ...
More of the same
The Sideshow —
... pamphlet, Common Sense, Thomas Paine famously declared that "so far as we approve of monarchy, the law is King." But the Robert Litts and Cass Sunsteins and David Broders have radically re-written that principle so that, now, "trans-partisan harmony is King," which means, in turn, that the President -- whose crimes should no longer be prosecuted due to fear of sowing "divisiveness" -- resides above the rule of law, and thus possesses one of the defining traits of a King." This kind of "truth and reconciliation" commission is unlikely to deliver either one. If ...
The Looming Bush War Crime Pardons
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan —
... Mark Benjamin reports that Bush may issue a blanket pardon to protect his administration from war crimes. Benjamin also describes how Obama may approach Bush's use of torture: ...
Obama May OK Torture Investigation
Daily Kos —
... Fortunately, according to Mark Benjamin at Salon, there’s some reason to believe that the Obama administration will investigate even if it does not attempt to prosecute. The Obama plan, he writes: ...
Will Bush Issue Blanket Pardons For Rendition & Torture?
TalkLeft —
... and interrogation tactics. This balanced report by Mark Benjamin describes a tension between Obama advisors who advocate a criminal investigation and those who believe prompt criminal prosecutions would be ugly, ineffective, and problematic for Democrats who may have been briefed about the administration's actions. ...
Perino: ‘We Did Not Torture’
Think Progress —
... rules — waterboarding is torture.”
– Four retired Judge Advocates General (JAGs), in a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT): “Waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal.”
Perino is trying to rewrite the sorry history of the Bush administration. Luckily, President-elect Obama has promised to “make sure that we don’t torture” — a vow that entails a robust investigation into Bush’s deliberate decision to implement a torture ...
Digby asks a question about Spiky
Corrente —
On Obama's trial balloon for a 9/11 Commission-style, "modified limited hangout" approach to the problem of holding torturers accountable, even if not criminally culpable, Digby compares the earlier story from Salon's Mark Benjamin with Spiky's work yesterday in Newsweek, notes disturbing similarities, and asks:
Wasn't Michael Isikoff supposed to be a crack "investigative" reporter?
Yeah, well. Reminds me of the old Spy magazine's factchecker (I think she was), Angela Crackstaff. Anyhow, I think I have one ...
The Mixed Up Files of G.W. Bush
TPMCafe —
... the idea of a congressionally appointed commission, and there is anonymous chatter from Obama staffers about the possibility of a executive branch commission. I think the latter is a bad idea, but we can get into that later. ...
Mitchell Bard: Cheney's Confession Should Lead to Criminal Investigation of Bush's Torture Policies
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com —
... I was torn. And then Dick Cheney uttered those two simple words: "I do." And the scales tipped. Here's the thing: If members of the Bush administration would have at least acted like they might have done something wrong, a truth-and-reconciliation-type Congressional commission like the one currently under consideration could have found out what happened, and we could have learned our lesson and moved on. At least maybe. But if Cheney is going to go on national television and endorse torture, I feel like he has tied the hands of the country. How can we change our image, both to ...
Sleeper Bill of the Month: Our Own Truth & Reconciliation Commission
TPM Election Central —
... for it, and inside the Obama camp. Does anybody think that this sleeper bill will get so much as a hearing in any of the three separate committees it's been referred to? ...
