Friday, January 16, 2009
In his Senate confirmation hearings to be President-elect Barack Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, stated unequivocally that waterboarding is torture.
So, if confirmed, Holder will have no choice but to prosecute members of the Bush junta who signed off on waterboarding because torture is illegal.
See Eric Holder’s remarks below.
From the Left 
Christopher,
I have seen nothing from Team Obama suggesting he is interested in prosecuting the evil doers who committed the worst acts against this nation and our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Factor in the war crimes and the portrait is complete.
What Obama told Stephanopolous was, he is “looking forward.” I saw this as a trip down the River Denial. I had hoped Obama would step up but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Wouldn’t surprise me if Holder is relatively open to the idea of investigation and prosecution but that Obama says no. I’m with Turley on this: if nothing happens, then the Obama administration gets a stake in ownership. Who knew that Unka Dick was right.
My fingers are crossed. If the Obama administration follows the law and prosecutes members of the Bush gang of thugs, I think the country will recover and the world will once again respect us. It’s up to Obama to decide what kind of president he plans to be.
I’m all for prosecution of Dubya and the gang, but I do think we need to worry about getting our country back on track first. Maybe I am wrong and putting them away (yea, right) will help the healing process, but this new administration is going to have its hands full for the next 3 -5 years.
Getting the country back on track can’t exclude the criminal prosecution of the Bush administration for war crimes. To me, they’re one and the same. What good is a sparkling economy and 4 million new jobs if the criminals who destroyed our standing in the world are laying around the pool drinking pina coladas?
Holder also said:
“No one is above the law and we will follow the evidence, the facts, the law, and let that take us where we should.”
Bush may be able to hide behind Executive Privilege or at the ranch in Paraguay but not Cheney, and not Rumsfeld and not Powell and not Rice.
If I were them, I would be afraid. Very afraid of the next four years.
This is interesting. I’m not an attorney but it looks like Eric Holder opened a door and if Obama fails to walk through it, he will have the same crimes of Bush and Cheney hanging around his neck when he leaves office.
I have a lot of unresolved anger at Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz for their lies that led to the Iraq war and Abu Ghraib. I have a family member who came back from two tours over there and he’s about as fucked up as anyone can be. Dealing with the VA is impossible and useless. And what was it all for? Not national security. Not oil. I can tell you what it for: to give Bush a war to add to his legacy. Well fuck Bush, his legacy and all the members of the Congress who voted to authorize him to begin this war without end.
I just can’t get the picture of ol’ GW out of my mind…..walking around in prison stripes with a ball and chain muttering, “But America hasn’t been attacked for 7 years…..”
LeftLeaningLady: Obama wouldn’t have to exert much time or energy to the prosecutions. He really shouldn’t get involved. If the career prosecutors in the Justice Dept. are merely allowed to do their jobs, there will be numerous Bush regime prosecutions. The question is whether or not Obama will meddle.