President Obama Discusses Possible Prosecution of Bush Administration Officials

What you are watching folks is JUSTICE in motion. Stay tuned.

How about holding Nancy Pelosi and the other members of Congress who were informed about the harsh interogation techniques and thought they were fine, to the same standards and prosceute them as well. Their support was required for techniques to be used, or is this just a political witch hunt.

“For those who carried out some of these operations within the four corners of legal opinions or guidance that had been provided from the White House, I do not think it’s appropriate for them to be prosecuted,”
With that stated, I feel better about this moving forward. It should not be focused on the grunts following orders, it should be focused on the people who set the policies and gave their professional judgment about the legality of the policies and the bosses who approved or demanded them. Professional like lawyers, doctors, and engineers are regulated and bound to offer honest and accurate guidance or else they are legally liable for the repercussions (usually just loss of license, but also can be big fines and even imprisonment in extreme cases).

Obama and his aides had been fairly clear on the undesirable nature of prosecutions. That POTUS would say what he did today is nothing but a bow to the left. We’ll see if he follows through.

I agree with the previous poster. EVERYONE who was informed on the program details is complicit…Congress was informed per the law.They should not get off the hook.They had the opportunity to stop it in its tracks, and they didn’t..why?
Because they feared American blood on their hands if they stood in the way.
This is going to be worse than the Church Committee hearings…will decimate CIA morale.
By releasing the memos, the President followed his agenda and gave the story ‘legs’.His words were somewhat hollow today given he has already politicized this issue.

The CIA released today info that said waterboarding the 9/11 mastermind provided them with information to PREVENT a 9/11 type attack on Los Angeles
____________________________________
Nope that was a former Bush official and guess what the torture saved LA claim was debunked when Bush made it 4 years ago.
The claim is that KSM captured and subsequently tortured in 2003 stopped an attack in LA that was to take place in 2002 is ridiculous on its face.
Lets look at responses during the time this was revealed vs the Bush admin rewriting of history.
But how serious was the threat? Cannistraro says it was quite serious and the plot was far along until it was compromised.
“One might say whether or not it was a viable plot,” he said. “But it certainly was the intention of Khalid Sheik Mohammed to carry it out. And we know that since he’s been arrested, we know that this was a serious plot. We know that they had gotten to the point of recruiting volunteers to commit suicide in carrying out the plot. So whether it would have been successful or not, we’ll never know. But we do know that it was pre-empted.”
But Micheal Scheuer, who was the leading al-Qaida expert in the CIA’s counter-terrorism center in 2002, says he is not aware of any such serious threat against the West Coast in 2002. As the man in the CIA who knew more about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida than perhaps any other agency officer, he says it is unlikely that he would not have been kept informed on such a plot
However serious the plan really was, security sources say it was completely compromised in 2002 with the arrest of Zaini Zakaria, a Malaysian who had been recruited to be one of the suicide pilots.
Posted by: Ryan C | Apr 21, 2009 5:10:48 PM

Non-Political? Like Jamie Gorelick, creator of the “wall” serving on the 9/11 commission?
Or like the Iraq Study Group, which came to the genius conclusion that we pull out of Iraq?
Along with Congress, perhaps SERE training developers should be included in the investigation.

“outside of the typical hearing process that can sometimes break down and break it entirely along party lines,”
Because if they went through normal hearings nasty little secrets, like how the entire democrat leadership was on board with the enhanced techniques at the start.
So if Obama is going to go after Bush admin officials, he also has to go after the accessories, like the people who gave congressional approval like Nancy Pelosi and Harrey Reid. Thats why Obama wants it behind closed doors, so their roles can be silent.

I am certain that there will be absolutely no prosecutions in this case, because precedence has already been set by past administrations. Lawyers for the defense will point this out, line by line, from FDR to LBJ to Clinton…NO PROSECUTIONS! At the end of the day, taxpayer dollars will be wasted, Democrats will be humiliated and elections will be lost to Republicans. Nothing good can come of this hypocritical interpretation of the law…and Bush Administration Officials know it.
Sorry Liberals, but your hatred is misguided. I disagree with many things the Bush Administration did, but taking extraordinary measures during extraordinary times to protect our nation cannot be punished. If our country can justify Japanese Internment Camps, dropping Nuclear Bombs on two Japanese Cities and the countless acts of torture in Southeast Asia under President’s JFK, LBJ and Nixon…what the Bush Administration did pales in comparison.

“Non-Political? Like Jamie Gorelick, creator of the ‘wall’ serving on the 9/11 commission?”
Let us not forget the reliably non-partisan Richard Ben Veniste, who so badly humiliated himself on that commission.

Admiral Blair was obviously confused–for a moment there he thought he was a former Bush official.

Since 1952, the Republicans have held the White house for 36 years, the Dems for 20 years. The Republicans have come back from worse conditions then present (Watergate). The Dems are riding high now, but they should be careful of overreaching. Can the precedent of prosecuting former administrations (like we were some banana republic) can be turned against them in the future?

Posted by: R Mutt | Apr 21, 2009 11:49:48 PM
YES!!!!
THE STATEMENT OF THE DAY
Strategery gone Awry!!!

Democrats are setting themselves up for a massive disappointment by making such sweeping changes that sound great on the surface, but do not take into account the consequences for getting it wrong. President Obama will only be the first to suffer the affects, as the ripples will filter down through the Senate and House of Representatives. 2012 seems far away and irrelevant now, but by the end of the year, the prospect for change will captivate the independent voters.

I don’t agree much with Republicans, but I can’t stand Democrats even more. Ted Kennedy…a hero?! Other than leaving a woman to drown and losing to Jimmy Carter in 1976, what did he “really” do?

Other than comparing our Soldiers treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the millions of murdered civilians at Nazi Concentration Camps and the Russian Gulages, what has Durbin done?

Obama’s foreign policy is so weak. He have a lack of inexperience and leadership.

After all Bush’s talk about “Accountability and consequences” during his 2000 campaign, his underlings and followers SURE LOOK SCARED.
“TIME TO FACE THE MUSIC, AND PAY THE PIPER.
Word to the Republican Party:
DON’T DO THE CRIME IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME.”
And in the case of the current administration – DO THE CRIME AND GET AWAY WITH IT. All this righteous indignation over Guantanamo and interrogation. These yoyos would probably ghave done the same thing. Oops, no they would have offered them tea and crumpets and a free ride home. People these are folks caught on the battle field. get a grip.

Obama is basically saying, “Even though your policies worked in stopping terrorism in this country, guess what, we’re going to prosecute you …. have a nice day.”

“It is sad that weak Obama doesn’t keep his word.”
He knows it’s not going to happen and is just playing it as any savy politico would. Get the additional political capital for appeasing the Dems while getting the intended result anyway. He’s good.

Here is part of the conundrum:
According to Gibbs, it is the attorney general’s office that can determine if the memos were outside the law and legal.
However, the attorney general’s office at the time of the events determined that the memos and actions were legal.
If a decision was made by the AG then how can it be illegal now?

This entire discussion is right out of Alice in Wonderland. For years, we listened to Bush and Cheney claim “we do not torture.” Now that it’s clear that we did, we’re listening to the likes of George Tenet claim that it was effective. So according to former Bush administration, that which we didn’t do was effective.
How does George Tenet, the man who claimed that the case for WMD’s in Iraq was a “slam dunk,” have the nerve to offer his opinions on anything? Crawl back into your cave, George.

It’s not the least bit clear that we tortured anyone. Waterboarding is not torture.
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“As a former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at the US Navy Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE) in San Diego, California I know the waterboard personally and intimately. SERE staff were required undergo the waterboard at its fullest. I was no exception. I have personally led, witnessed and supervised waterboarding of hundreds of people. It has been reported that both the Army and Navy SERE school’s interrogation manuals were used to form the interrogation techniques used by the US army and the CIA for its terror suspects.
What was not mentioned in most articles was that SERE was designed to show how an evil totalitarian, enemy would use torture at the slightest whim. If this is the case, then waterboarding is unquestionably being used as torture technique.”
(Malcom Nance – just part of an informative article written 10/31/07)

it’s been revealed that Bush & Co. used torture to try and elicit phony info about the justification for starting the Iraq war………this has nothing to do with 9/11….. it’s about Bush & Cheney starting a war, getting Americans killed and maimed because Bush and Cheney lied.

Nobody will be prosecuted and the
president knows it.
The definition of torture is not set
in stone so good luck with that!
One man’s torture is another man’s
enhanced interrogation technique.
This is a diversion to take away the
attention given to President Obama’s
disasterous trip to Latin America where
he shook hands with Chavez and Ortega
and stood by while they denounced our
country.
Obama’s foreign policy of Blah, Blah.
Blah is a joke.
His outrageous spending will bankrupt
our economy not fix it.
Therefore the president needs a
theme for his re-election campaign
in 2012.
The idea is to have numerous hearings
in the House and Senate denouncing
the “unlawful” acts of the Bush
Administration and hoping the
maniacal hatred of Bush by his
base will carry him to victory!
It won’t work, Mr President!
The media can’t protect you forever.
You will be a one-term president.
But don’t worry maybe your pal, Chavez
will give you a job, or Ortega, or
Raul Castro!

reaganfan:
you said:
“One man’s torture is another man’s
enhanced interrogation technique.”
Why were the Nazi’s prosecuted then?
Why was anyone concerned with Saddam’ oppression of his people?
Why was anyone in an uproar about Pol Pot?
I could go on…..

gary:
you forgot that Clinton was ‘prosecuted’ for having sex……
you can review all of history if you care to, and point out that many incidents you somehow want to equate with the Bush torture policy were not ‘prosecuted’, that does not set precedent for current events ….

Dewde:
Comparing the waterboarding of
those responsible for 9/11 to
Hitler, Saddam, and Pol Pot is
ridiculous.
Like it or not the techniques kept us
safe after 9/11.
Bush and Cheney deserve our thanks
not our scorn for that.