I agree fully with Turley's opinion. We either uphold the principles on which our country was founded, or we acknowledge we have become a different kind of country entirely--just another untrustable rogue nation on the planet. Bush and Cheney took us down a very dark road in their administration, abandoning the values held so dear by our founding fathers. If Bush and Cheney are not charged with war crimes, we must stop holding up the U.S. as a role model of democracy for other countries to follow.
Jonathan Turley on The Rachel Maddow Show: We're all complicit in Bush's war crimes if we ignore them
By SilentPatriot Thursday Nov 27, 2008 6:00am -- www.crooksandliars.com
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As David already discussed, constitutional-law expert Jonathan Turley joined Rachel last night to discuss the fate of top Bush administration figures involved in "harsh interrogation techniques." The White House has indicated that Bush will not be issuing blanket pardons, but the Wall Street Journal later reported that that's because it's "unnecessary" to do so.
Turley makes a critical point in the interview -- namely, that the moral burden of torture is on the backs of each one of us until these people are brought to justice. And it will be profoundly immoral to let them go:
"We have third world countries that when they have found that their leaders committed torture war crimes, they prosecuted them. But the most successful democracy in history is just, I think, about to see war crimes, and do nothing about it. And that's an indictment not just of George Bush and his administration. It's the indictment of all of us if we walk away from a clear war crime and say it's time for another commission."
Turley lays out a powerful case that's pretty hard to argue with. A wave of reconciliation and forgiveness seems to be sweeping Washington, but sanctioning torture and destroying America's moral credibility around the world is something that can't simply be ignored. I'm not opposed to a commission per se, but the commission MUST be granted sweeping investigatory powers and a mandate to prosecute any and all wrongdoing found to have been committed. Anything less is unacceptable.
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