“Look forward, rather than back.”
“political sensitivities”
That’s the logic and reasoning the Obama administration is giving in ruling out prosecuting those who have justified, approved, or administered torture in the Bush administration. In recent days, we found out that back in 2002, two of the 9/11 suspects were tortured hundreds of times, and that the information we got from these people was completely worthless. A key author of the torture memos is a Federal Appeals Judge now.
So, we know that torture doesn’t work, except perhaps as a means of revenge, and that the current administration isn’t going to do anything about those who committed these terrible acts.
Looking back is exactly what a criminal investigation of any kind is about. Do we say to other criminals that we want to “look forward, rather than back” and not investigate or prosecute?
Saying that we will not torture in the future yet not doing anything to make amends to the world for the torture that already occurred is essentially legalizing torture. It’s saying that “oops, my bad” when you break the window, but not paying to fix it. It still leaves a broken window.
Shame on President Obama for taking the foolish and cowardly way out of this terrible mess left by the previous president. This decision is not going to improve out standing in the world, and will just go to make him an accomplice in the crime.
TAKE ACTION: lobby your Representative and Senators to investigate, to request a special prosecutor, to impeach, to do whatever is necessary to get the Obama administration to do their job.
