Some pretty bad news came out this weekend. According to Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, the administration won't prosecute anyone for torture. Not the torturers themselves and not those who planned, discussed, or authorized torture. The stand of this administration toward monstrous crimes of torture and conspiracy to commit it is "live and let live." On ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous, Emmanuel and Stephanopolous had the following exchange:
STEPHANOPOLOUS: The President has ruled out prosecutions of CIA officials who believed they were following the law. Does he believe the officials who devised the policies should be immune from prosecution?
RAHM: Yeah, what he believes is, look, as you saw in that statement he wrote. And I think, just take a step back. That he came up with this, and he worked on this for four weeks. Wrote that statement Wednesday night, after he made his decision, and dictated what he wanted to see and then Thursday morning I saw him in the office, he was still editing it. He believes that people in good faith were operating with the guidance they were provided. They shouldn't be prosecuted.
STEPHANOPOLOUS: But what about those who devised the policies?
RAHM: But those who devised the policies -- he believes that they were -- should not be prosecuted either. And it's not the place that we go -- as he said in that letter, and I really recommend that people look at that full statement. Not the letter, the statement. In that second paragraph: This is not a time for retribution. It's a time for reflection. It is not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back, and in a sense of anger and retribution. We have a lot to do to protect America. What people need to know, this practice and technique, we don't use any more. He banned it.
We don't torture any more. That's all you need to know. Of course, when Rahm says, "It is not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back," what he really means is that now is the time to look the other way. A terrible crime has been committed in your name, in my name, in the name of every person in the United States of America, but we shouldn't get all worked up over it. We shouldn't let ourselves get bogged down in "anger and retribution," because we need to reflect and heal and grow and accept our inner torturer or some other self-help BS -- no wonder Oprah endorsed Obama. For those of us not as well-versed in the language of following our bliss, it's hard to understand what Emmanuel's saying here because it doesn't make any goddam sense at all.
I need someone to explain to me when it was exactly that justice became just "anger and retribution." When did the idea that people who commit crimes should have to answer for them become some sort of unhealthy desire for revenge? If I ever wind up in front of a judge, what do you think my odds are if I use the "forgive and forget" argument that seems to be the position of the Obama administration?... [CLICK TO READ FULL POST]
