“I am writing to respectfully request that comments regarding holding individuals accountable for detention and interrogation related activities be held in reserve until the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is able to complete its review of the conditions and interrogations of certain high value detainees,” Feinstein’s letter says.http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/04/obama-at-the-ci.htmlNot Quite An Exoneration
by Deacon Blues
Except that the White House never said they would give a pass to the White House and DOJ lawyers and senior administration officials; they said they would give a pass to CIA officials who gave those orders. Obama is walking a fine line here, trying to keep the Agency on his side while not sending the Democrats in Congress into full investigation mode. And yet
he may soon lose control of the matter because Senator Dianne Feinstein now wants a formal inquiry, and the UN's senior official on these matters says that Obama's unwillingness to investigate the culpability of Bush administration officials would itself amount to a violation of international treaties.
.....the White House is now signalling that it may in fact support a Special Prosecutor after all.
On Sunday, Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, said on the ABC News program “This Week” that “those who devised policy” also “should not be prosecuted.” But administration officials said Monday that Mr. Emanuel had meant the officials who ordered the policies carried out, not the lawyers who provided the legal rationale.Even with this though, the Obama White House may only have the stomach to go after the law licenses of the White House attorneys who crafted the opinions, but not prosecute them.
The administration has also not ruled out prosecuting anyone who exceeded the legal guidelines, and officials have discussed appointing a special prosecutor. One option might be giving the job to John H. Durham, a federal prosecutor who has spent 15 months investigating the C.I.A.’s destruction of videotapes of harsh interrogations.It all still sounds a little wimpish for my tastes, but I'll wait a little while longer before I thrash Obama for tossing away his campaign rhetoric.
But not much longer.
morer (plus links):
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014019.php