Griper News: Pelosi: Bush Criminals Should Face Prosecution

Bush administration officials who broke the law should face criminal prosecution and shouldn't get immunity in exchange for testimony under a proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission being discussed in the Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said in an interview broadcast late Wednesday.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) yesterday announced his committee will hold hearings on creating a panel to investigate alleged crimes committed by Bush administration officials, including torture of detainees and illegal wiretapping. Leahy has said the panel would avoid criminal charges except in cases of perjury.

Happily, this immunity idea is becoming less and less popular as time goes on. Finding out what happened, why it happened, and who caused it to happen -- then doing nothing -- is striking a lot of people as a waste of time.

"Senator Leahy has a proposal, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is a good idea," Pelosi told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Wednesday. "What I have some concern about there is it has immunity. And I think that some of the issues involved here, like the politicizing of the Justice Department and the rest, may have criminal ramifications, and I don't think we should be giving them immunity."

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"I don't think we should have immunity for some of those issues," Pelosi said. "No one is above the law, the president has said that."

Amen, Nancy. Immunity=impunity.