Well, hopefully they are not reading TPM Café or a number of other "liberal" blogs who are pointing this out. At least you are not arguing, like some others, that this torturing and muderous bunch should be given a free pass.

Now shut up and "cloak" this thread.

Scott - do you want the administration prosecuted?

This WSJ piece strikes me as a trial balloon. But pardons or no, I hope Scott will continue pressing for real accountability, as he has done so well for so long.

I have a somewhat different take on how to pursue this goal, tho. Rather than depending on a single "silver bullet" plan such as a special commission to take up the task, I say go after it with all barrels blazing.

Sure, set up a commission; but let's also have congressional committee probes, Inspector General investigations in the agencies, the GAO, the whole schmear.

From all I've read and learned, there is PLENTY of disgusting dirt for all of them to dig up. And then if one inquiry is stymied, evaded or shut down (all specialties of the current gang), another can pick up the slack.

Let's even push for state inquiries in places like my home state of North Carolina, where most of the "torture taxis" are based between their rendition kidnaping flights. (And yes, I think the flights are continuing; the companies involved are EXPANDING their facilities.) After all, torture is against Carolina law too.

Not to mention cooperating with what will likely be numerous international legal actions.

All this will take time;it will be worth it.

One other caveat: while bringing the offenders to account is important, let's not make it the only topic of post-torture era conversation, because there's more involved.

I sum up the full task of ending the torture regime in the acronymic slogan "START NOW", as follows:

S = STOP all torture operations, close Gitmo and other "black" prisons, rescind all permissive orders.

T = The TRUTH -- pursue it by all available means, as above.

A = ACCOUNTABILITY for offenders, not only the policymakers, but the major perps. This will, I believe, include some people in uniform with stars on their lapels.

R = RESTITUTION/Compensation. So far, one torture victim in Sweden and Canada have received compensation from the respective governments for their complicity with their kidnapping by US agents for torture. All innocent victims of US torture deserve such compensation and restitution. Open US courts to such cases, and end use of the "state secrets" doctrine as a defense.

T = TREATMENT. Torture victims and their families also need treatment, and in justice let this be at US goverment expense.

The NOW of "START NOW" means, NEVER let up, ORGANIZE to keep the issue alive, especially outside DC, and WORRY Washington until there's real action.

So let's end torture, and START NOW.

More on this at: www.quakerhouse.org

"Is it likely that courts would adopt the same view? For the answer to that question, look at the pending prosecution for torture and war crimes brought against Charles 'Chuckie' Taylor, Jr., in which the defense tried to introduce and rely on the OLC torture memoranda. The court's retort was almost immediate--'you can't be serious.' The court, quite properly, treated the OLC memoranda as legal rubbish. Which is what they are."

Very likely they are rubbish, but it is equally likely that the federal court in Florida couldn't believe the defense was trying to use OLC memoranda pertaining to members of the Executive Branch of the US Govt in defense of the son of the president of Liberia on trial for acts of torture in Liberia. It's highly doubtful that the judge was giving a substantive evaluation of these irrelevant documents.

.

To repeat...

As I stated in the initial thread of The Mixed Up Files of G.W. Bush...

To heal the nation -- the truth be known.

So I say, do the Constitutional duty and make this an investigation with the possibility of judicial implications. Add some teeth as one would say. Non-binding committees become a partisan battle-ground in the nature of their make-up.

This is getting a bit redundant watching the different sides argue their positions. If this wasn't such a serious subject. it would be as much fun as watching a dog chase it's tail.

If you really wish to read a piece that'll raise your eyebrows plus place this subject in a wider perspective, I recommend the Café's own SleepinJeezus' Unimpeachable Justice: "What's Good for the Goose..."

~OGD~

The central premise is the OLC has the authority to create law. That is undeniably false. In the interpretation of law, OLC opinions cannot be exempt from judicial review.

This is merely an extension of the Bush WH notion of the power of the unitary executive. The idea of a 'golden shield' effectively grants power to the president and simultaneously shields him from accountability relative to the exercise of that power. If this assertion of power were to be sustained by the SC we are finished as a country.

Two points of clarification: first, Chucky Taylor's prosecution isn't pending. He was convicted on all counts. Second, it is difficult to read the tenor of Judge Altonaga's rejection of the Bybee Memo. She simply said she wouldn't allow it to be provided with jury instructions.