Sen Whitehouse: TORTURE PROBE SHOULD LOOK AT BUSH OFFICIALS

[kpete]

This would be a routine criminal matter if the targets weren't former high government officials.
Whitehouse: Torture Probe Should Look At Bush Officials
Zachary Roth | September 1, 2009, 10:01AM

Sheldon Whitehouse

August 31, 2009

......................

Another top Democrat has come out in support of the view that the torture investigation announced by the Justice Department shouldn't be limited to CIA personnel.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a former federal prosecutor who sits on the Judiciary committee, suggested in an article http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202433420756&Official_torture=&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&pt&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1 for the National Law Journal that the probe should extend to:

...the former vice president of the United States, his counsel David Addington, Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) lawyer John Yoo and their private contractors Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, psychologists who designed the torture program.

Whitehouse continued:

In America, high office does not put one outside the law. Indeed, it borders on unethical for a prosecutor to refuse to investigate the corpus delicti of a crime because of concern as to where the evidence may lead.

more:
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202433420756&Official_torture=&src=EMC-Email&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&pt&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/whitehouse_torture_probe_should_look_at_bush_offic.php#more

[barbtries]

1. yes!

investigate as far as it leads, which as we all know is straight to the very top. and prosecute, and imprison.

[EFerrari]

2. Sheldon Whitehouse has been very good on this issue. n/t

[Overseas]

3. K&R for Sheldon Whitehouse.

He has been doing a great job in getting out there wherever he can to talk about the necessity of holding our leaders accountable for their crimes.

[redqueen]

4. I'll have to call and thank Senator Whitehouse.

Glad he's speaking up for an investigation of those who pushed so hard for torture.

[mod mom]

5. Absolutely. It's totally unfair to punish those who implemented order when those

who devised them are allowed to be untouched.

[aquart]

6. This man habitually pleases me.

That's a good thing.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. The president is ultimately responsible

is the CIA employed by taxpayers' money?

[Ghost Dog]

16. The buck stops over there

down below.

[invictus]

8. K&R. Whitehouse for President 2016

[DutchLiberal]

13. Why wait until 2016? I say: Whitehouse/Kucinich 2012!

That would be easy to market: his name already is 'Whitehouse'!';)

[mascarax]

9. Agree w/Sen. Whitehouse - the ones who *signed off on* torture

need to get investigated and punished. This isn't just CIA! Yes, Cheney should pay, but who signed off on this? These people are culpable.

Really, really like Whitehouse.

[Canuckistanian]

17. The worst part is

They first ordered the torture.

THEN they created the legal "cover" by the Yoo and Bybee memos.

THEN they signed off.

[Solly Mack]

10. & Bush (& others)

K&R

[DearAbby]

11. I agree with the good Senator

Follow the evidence where ever it leads. Then Prosecute.

[DutchLiberal]

12. "In America, high office does not put one outside the law." Er... yes, it does!

I don't remember Nixon, Reagan or Bush ever being held accountable for their numerous crimes.

[wiggs]

14. Then he should try to convince more of his fellow congressmen and either

get a bunch of them to call for CONGRESSIONAL hearings...or...at least get some sort of combined statement together that condemns previous administration behavior.

He has a lot more options at his disposal than just asking that someone else expand what THEY'RE doing. I'm of the opinion that this stuff is choreographed and that Whitehouse and probably others have leadership permission to say this, while all the while they know that nothing will happen because the votes aren't there to do something.

[Beetwasher]

15. The Foots In The Door

n/t

[EVDebs]

18. A torture investigation leads directly to 9-11, and Cheney's impunity

Glenn Greenwald's article,

9/11 Commission: Our investigation was "obstructed"
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/01/02/obstruction/

""The recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes -- and did not tell us about them -- obstructed our investigation.

More strikingly still, they explicitly include the White House at the top of their list of guilty parties:

There could have been absolutely no doubt in the mind of anyone at the C.I.A. -- or the White House -- of the commission's interest in any and all information related to Qaeda detainees involved in the 9/11 plot. Yet no one in the administration ever told the commission of the existence of videotapes of detainee interrogations.

To underscore the seriousness of their accusations, Keane and Hamilton end with this:

What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one the (sic) greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction.

It's hard to imagine a more serious scandal than this.""

Furthermore, Brewster Jennings being outed in 2001
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2771387&mesg_id=2771387

leads directly to the secret policy of arming Pakistan

The Obama Adminstration is Helping to Upgrade Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons
How the U.S. Has Secretly Backed Pakistan's Nuclear Program From Day One
http://www.counterpunch.org/andrew06242009.html

[Senator]

19. Taint enough

Sorry, but it's way too late to just talk a good game. Want to "investigate?" Turn on FauxNewz.

There's been no "mystery" here for years. You either call war criminals war criminals or you're just flappin' your gums.

---

[EVDebs]

20. Agreed. BTW, Obama worked for Business International Corp

BIC is a CIA front company. His policies aren't going to do anything to rock the CIA's established secret practices which have brought such shame to the country. They'll continue drug running and moneylaundering with a side dish of torture, and Alfred McCoy will continue to expose it all while a dumbed down media just sits there with egg on its collective face.

[pleah]

21. K&R

[1776Forever]

22. Anyone who has listened to CSPAN & heard Sen. Whitehouse knows he is fantastic!

He has repeatedly shown his knowledge and courage in stepping up for the truth and justice that we so long have said this country stands for! Thank you to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse!

:woohoo: :yourock: :woohoo:

[Rocky L Rottweiler]

23. Everybody's Dreaming

People keep saying that no one in America is above the law, when the evidence to the contrary seems overwhelming. If you're a peasant you get indicted. If you occupy high office you're home free. Nixon resigned but was never held to account. Reagan died of old age.

Cheney has all but admitted to crimes under US law, if not also crimes that might be prosecuted in the Hague, but I'm still waiting to hear about subpoenas and arrest warrants.

It begins sounding like the immigration debate. And if we're not going to welcome immigrants then take that big statue in New York harbor and sell it for scrap.