Thursday, December 2, 2010
WikiLeaks Bombshell: cable shows that when Spain considered a criminal case against ex-Bush officials, the Obama White House and Republicans got really bipartisan.
In its first months in office, the Obama administration sought to protect Bush administration officials facing criminal investigation overseas for their involvement in establishing policies that governed interrogations of detained terrorist suspects. A “confidential” April 17, 2009, cable sent from the US embassy in Madrid to the State Department—one of the 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks—details how the Obama administration, working with Republicans, leaned on Spain to derail this potential prosecution.
No wonder George W. Bush is full of praise these days when it comes to President Obama and Mr. Obama? Why he’s Mr. Bush’s newest BFF.
From the Left 
The Old Boys Club is the most exclusive club on earth. I thought Obama’s outrage over the Wiki Leaks had something to do with troop security or national security? It’s clear, Obama was outraged because the document dump implicates him in one of the biggest cover ups in modern, political history.
Obama and Cheney are cousins, yes?
Obama is Kenyan for Cheney. That’s really all you need to know about our current and hopefully, soon-to-be-ex, president. By my clock, Obama has 24 months left on the job.
It really is time for this Negro to be LYNCHED!
I think we can all be clear now that in Barack Obama, we thought we were electing a man who was a step up from his predecessor, someone who embodied the values of decency, justice, history, and who was committed to restoring the honor to the office of the presidency lost under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
Instead we received Chapter Three of the Bush administration. Just more of the same but unlike Bush, Mr. Obama has a demonstrated contempt for the middle class and the poor. He’s now a cardcarrying member of the the GOP Country Club and all it represents. What bothers me the most is, at least with Bush we knew who we were getting and we adjusted our expectations in advance to avoid disappointment. Whereas with Mr. Obama, he wanted us to see him as a change agent, a man of, and for the the people.
Well Mr. Obama is a man of the people alright. As long as the people are multimillionaires and social conservatives who want another $800 billion in tax cuts funded by the middle class. Debt is fine as long as it represents tax cuts for the uber-rich. You see, one day, if Mr. Obama plays his cards right and continues to do the filthy bidding of the GOP Country Club crowd set, he may actually be one of them.
I guess I’m not really surprised or even disappointed to learn Mr. Obama is protecting his new friend, George W. Bush. I just wish he would go about it honestly and stop trying to sell himself as one of us because he ain’t one of us.
I guess the old axiom is correct: in America, presidential elections come down to the lesser of two evils. I don’t know how many more years I have left at 66 but this much I know. The 2008 election is the last time I intend to vote in the general election. I mean, what’s the point of going out in the cold when you just end up electing someone like Barack Obama?
At least this shocking revelation puts to rest the rumor that President Obama intentionally disclosed the WikiLeak documents to discredit Hillary Clinton and cast her in a bad light.
But the WikiLeak documents put in context the faux outrage President Obama and his team expressed beginning last Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Any outrage Mr. Obama displayed was couched in the knowledge that he’s now been outed as a major partner in helping protect the most lawless and criminal president in modern history.
Obama didn’t drive the getaway car but he’s culpable in the crime by helping to protect his predecessor.
This is shameful and casts Obama in a terrible light.
Can we all stop the charade now that Barack Obama is a Democrat?
He’s a Republican. Not a secret, closeted Republican but an in your face Republican and he doesn’t even try to hide it.
You see, there’s really no difference between the two parties. They’ve merged into one.
Do any of you kind people know where Obama’s brown color came from? Not his father…….. Bush SHIT HIM OUT!
MichaelTAtheist, was your comment made ironically? I hope?
It is disappointing that Obama worked with the GOP on this, admittedly. But if you think about it, do we really want other countries going around declaring our presidents “war criminals” every time they disagree with one of our policies? Yes, in this case, Bush’s administration could indeed be considered war criminals. But what if the US dropped some bombs somewhere in a sincere effort to either help an ally or defend ourselves, and other countries decided it was a criminal act? We could end up with presidents who couldn’t leave our country for fear of arrest. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I know the torture and other tactics of Bush/Cheney were reprehensible. But arresting them for war crimes in other countries, however justified, might be a slippery slope. Not defending Obama for continuing many of the Bush policies, believe me. But this particular issue is a touchy one. Just my opinion – would like to hear others’ thoughts.
It’s said you’re only as sick as your secrets. Until the light from the sun is allowed to shine again on this nation, America has no business telling other government what to do.
We should never fear the truth — never.
As a liberal democrat, and a former Obama supporter, I demand all the secrets from the previous and current administrations made public. We’re all adults here and we deserve the truth.
Face it, folks, this Country is very quickly descending into MADNESS!!!!
The coming Apocalypse will truly be frightening….. Unfortunately all of the guns are owned by the ”wrong wingers”!!!!!!!!!
Here’s what the celebrated legal scholar Jonathan Turley wrote in March, 2009 about Spain’s effort to prosecute Bush and President Obama’s efforts to squelch the investigation.
Spanish Court Orders Investigation of Bush Aides for War Crimes at Guantanamo Bay
Spanish investigating magistrate Baltasar Garzon has passed a 98-page complaint to prosecutors that accuses former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and five others violations of international law, including torture.
For months, many of us have been complaining about President Barack Obama’s blocking of any war crimes investigation despite the confirmation of a torture program under President Bush. While saying repeatedly that “no one is above the law,” Obama has acted in precisely the opposite way: guaranteeing that former President Bush and others are above the law. This seems to confirm reports (denied by Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder) that they promised various people before the start of the Administration that they would never allow a criminal investigation.
One of the issues raised by Obama’s refusal to appoint a special prosecutor to look into these well-documented allegations is that it leaves the United States open to international intervention. While there is an obligation for the United States to act under our treaties, a failure to act allows other countries to intervene to uphold international law. This puts the United States on the same moral plane as Serbia and other countries that shielded allegedly war criminals. This is precisely the problem that we have discussed in prior interviews.
The story here should not be the actions of the Spanish, but the lack of action by Obama. The United States will now be in a position of trying to block this inquiry while blocking any criminal investigation at home. That is how Obama is implicating himself in these violations and making himself an accomplice and accessory after the fact.
While Obama’s political advisers have told him that it is simply too politically risky to allow the enforcement of these laws, the moral response is obvious. This is simply not Obama’s decision. He should leave it to a special prosecutor to decide on the evidence if anyone can be charged. He can use the Spanish proceeding to say that the United States will conduct its own criminal investigation — not another meaningless commission but an investigation by a special prosecutor.
The Spanish complaint names Gonzales John C. Yoo, Douglas J. Feith, William J. Hayes II, Jay S. Bybee and David S. Addington. Bybee was put on the Ninth Circuit despite objections from civil libertarians of his role in the torture program. Once again, the democrats refused to use their power to block the nomination. He now has life tenure on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/03/30/spanish-court-orders-investigation-in-bush-aides-for-war-crimes-at-guantanamo-bay/
Turley is correct. This required a special prosecutor and not a fresh-faced newbie, worried about the political costs of holding the son of a powerful political dynasty accountable for his actions. Now, the same blood that stained the well manicured hands of George W. Bush, stain the hands of Barack Obama. I hope it was worth it.
Obama ran as a Democrat but governs like a Republican.
I think his legacy will be one that forever confirms what people have said about the two political parties for years: there is no difference between the establishment Dems and the establishment GOP.
Obama is Kenyan for Cheney.
ROFLMAO! Priceless! 🙂
People can’t be surprised to learn of this? I would expect nothing else from this president. When I learned of Obama’s assassination program I knew a grave mistake had been made by the American voters in 2008. We bought into the hype and failed to dig deeper into his character. I think the 2008 American election mirrors the 1932 German election.
Man, those 100,000 acres George and Laura Bush own in Paraguay are going to be very populated by the time this terrible chapter in history is finally written.
Stephan Iversonn,
Great link. Jonathan Turley is brilliant and as usual, he nailed it.
While there is an obligation for the United States to act under our treaties, a failure to act allows other countries to intervene to uphold international law. This puts the United States on the same moral plane as Serbia and other countries that shielded allegedly war criminals. This is precisely the problem that we have discussed in prior interviews.
By shielding Bush, Obama helped to further destroy his, and our, moral standing with the rest of the world. No nation is an island. Even North Korea stands with China and Iran. All of this begs the question? Who does the US stand with?
The sad truth is the US hasn’t been a democracy for a very long time since it’s impossible for an empire to function if elections were real and not simply Kabuki Theater to entertain the masses. What still needs to be brought down is the Military-Industrial-Banking complex.
Unfortunately, it remains as true today as when it was originally said by Jay Gould, US financier & railroad businessman (1836 – 1892):
‘I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.’
Divide and conquer has always been the method used in America to control the masses.
Eric Equality Kuntz, I think Paraguay is an unlikely destination for Barack Hussein Obama.
On a strictly cultural level, BHO would be a return to Indonesia, where he speaks the language and has extended family. Dragging Michele there may prove a challenge. She’s a fancy-pants gal and enjoys Tiffany and Cartier and much of Indonesia is still flip-flops and bananas.
When a president-elect takes the Oath of Office, he also takes an unofficial CYA Oath, passed down from president to president. We Americans are like wide-eyed children when we elect a new leader. All of our hopes and fears are assigned to the in-coming chief executive. But we need to grow up and accept the fact these men look out for each other and not for us.
what if the gov set us up with a president that we liked so he could destract us from the truth of him being nothing new from gorge b sorry if i miss spelt anything
It is hard to believe some of these comments are made sincerely. The truly unfortunate comments may end up on national news – & I suspect the motives of those that make them.
Thanks to those with justice and strength to act in a circumspect & kindly way.