If I understand him correctly, he’s offended that the Attorney General authorized a probe at all, rather than taking the previous administration’s word that there wasn’t anything left to probe.
Sorry for the snark? In the Pit? That’s like there’s no crying in baseball!
That’s nice, but I haven’t. I didn’t want my people involved in torturing little Asian men in black pajamas, I didn’t want them involved in murdering Hispanic communists, and I don’t want them involved in torturing Islamic nutcases. I am at the very least consistent. I am a flag=waving, red-blooded American radical lefty, and I am sick to death of being ashamed for my country.
Or, put another way, they have a wholly deserved reputation for unsavory associations and despicable behavior, and therefore may face some prejudice. Duly noted. And “ideological purity” has squat all to do with it, savage and cruel behavior is morally bankrupt whether you are a libertarian or a unicorn.
This is intuition.
The nub of it. They probably were, and they were probably given orders couched in the special ambiguity of ass-covering spooks, what Le Carre called “Yes! Repeat, no!” orders, orders than can be examined after the fact to deflect all possible negative blowback, and catch all positive attaboys.
And yes, I think in a position of such ambiguity, and such deliberate avoidance of accountability, it is unjust to hold a lower functionary criminally responsible. They should have been told from the very top from the very git-go, no, don’t do it, don’t even think about doing it. Period. Full stop.
They weren’t, and the chain of responsibility goes all the way up, and the failure goes right along with it.
So, criminally, no, Holder is probably right, it shouldn’t be done. As well, a totally fair trial beyond reasonable doubt? No way.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t have contempt for anyone who would torture another person, and I don’t give a flying fuck who said it was legal.
Is this some more of that intuition? If you actually know what he was thinking, by all means, share the procedure with us all! Mind, universal telepathy may not prove to be that great an idea. I can see some drawbacks.
Well a Republican AG, like, say, Roberto Gonzalez, would have found those witches and sent them to Guantanamo Bay without charges or prosecution. There is ample cause to investigate the torture allegations. It is a federal offense to torture.
Yeah but his wording was odd.
If Holder’s desire for something to be true colored his judgement then Holder should have found these guys guilty.
Instead, he duly investigated a legitimate issue that may have been a crime and found almost all of them innocent.
You’d think Evil One would be happy.
I guess he thinks having even looked into it was somehow a dastardly deed.
Being a witch was made legal.
Imagine, if you will, John Yoo’s essay declaring burning at the stake to be an acceptable procedure…
“Funeral by cremation has a long-standing legitimacy, both legally and culturally…”
To me this highlights one of the biggest problems with our legal system (at least at that level).
IIRC some other attorneys were unwilling to write the Brief the administration wanted. Solution? Fire those guys and find someone who will.
Voila…law made to order.
There is always some scumbag willing to sell his soul. Get that attorney on your side who is clear about the result you want and poof…you get the law you want and are in the clear.
Utter bullshit.
Well, it is often said that the Law is the handjob of Justice…
Exactly. There’s no “exoneration” here; it’s just part of the general cover up and whitewashing. Having atrocities made legal doesn’t make them any less atrocities.
All on the head except for the “utter bullshit” part. You are describing the way the system is supposed to work, and no one in human history ever has invented a better.
Damn our system to hell. We allow the head of the CIA to be picked by people we elect rather than having it be a separate entity all to itself. Imagine if we did that with the military? How could we have one all those wars if the Sec of Defense was appointed by the President?
What we need to do is be more like Pakistan. Their intelligence service does not answer to the government.
And that in a nutshell is the problems with liberals. You wouldn’t see a conservative administration outing a CIA agent for political reasons.
The CIA has been entirely muggle run since George HW Bush took over the agency.
Huh?
So if an attorney tells you that you cannot do “X” then the solution is to find an attorney who is willing to say you can do “X”? Then you are in the clear?
How is that a good system? You can always find someone to do that for you.