Before I start, let me make something clear: I'm normally a fan of Obama's. I donated to his campaign, and I voted for him. I support and defend his policies for the most part. The part here is one that I don't support.
There are two interesting stories being covered these days, one well known, and the other not so well known. The first, has been going on for over 30 years. John Demjanjuk has been in one stage or another or being prosecuted, convicted or acquitted for being a guard in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. [Before I go on -- I don't care if he is or is not guilty of any of the crimes charged. It's irrelevant to the point here.] The Israelis have acquitted him, but the US government has stripped him of his citizenship, and is making every effort to deport him to Germany where he will be charged.
In more mainstream news President Obama announced that he would not prosecute CIA officers that were involved with torture as long as their actions were in line with the legal advice at that time. Also, it's important to note that "...nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."
So now we have an interesting position here on the part of the Obama Administration. On one hand, they seek to prosecution for an individual who comitted his allged crimes 65 years ago, and was certainly "following the legal advice at the time," as the laws that he "broke" were not invented until WWII was almost complete as the Napoleonic "crimes against humanity" was pulled out of mothballs to provide a legal basis to decapitate the Axis powers. Hundreds of Axis officials and soldiers were imprisoned or put to death on this legal basis. Juxtaposition this with the concept that our CIA officers were "only following orders" and should not be prosecuted. Furthermore, they should not be prosecuted because what they did happened in the past. [huh??]
Someone please explain to me how the Obama administration plans to prosecute future crimes!
Do not think for a minute that I equate what happend at the camps in Nazi Germany, and what some of those guards did there, to what our guards and "interrrogators" did. What the Nazis did was heinous and horrible, and However, if you don't look too deep, the situations are remarkably similar. In fact the CIA knew, despite the "legal opinions" that what they were doing was wrong, as they had to deal with the FBI at arm's length.
So if we are to be a nation laws as President Obama says we should be, then lets be a nation of laws. Let's not allow the scapegoating of a few officers and enlisted personnel of Abu Gharib to stand. Let's go forward and shine the light of truth into the murky corners of the hidden CIA torture chambers. We should show the world that the United States is a nation of laws and that we will try and convict those responsible for breaking them, whatever their crime, whenever they did it.
There are two interesting stories being covered these days, one well known, and the other not so well known. The first, has been going on for over 30 years. John Demjanjuk has been in one stage or another or being prosecuted, convicted or acquitted for being a guard in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. [Before I go on -- I don't care if he is or is not guilty of any of the crimes charged. It's irrelevant to the point here.] The Israelis have acquitted him, but the US government has stripped him of his citizenship, and is making every effort to deport him to Germany where he will be charged.
In more mainstream news President Obama announced that he would not prosecute CIA officers that were involved with torture as long as their actions were in line with the legal advice at that time. Also, it's important to note that "...nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."
So now we have an interesting position here on the part of the Obama Administration. On one hand, they seek to prosecution for an individual who comitted his allged crimes 65 years ago, and was certainly "following the legal advice at the time," as the laws that he "broke" were not invented until WWII was almost complete as the Napoleonic "crimes against humanity" was pulled out of mothballs to provide a legal basis to decapitate the Axis powers. Hundreds of Axis officials and soldiers were imprisoned or put to death on this legal basis. Juxtaposition this with the concept that our CIA officers were "only following orders" and should not be prosecuted. Furthermore, they should not be prosecuted because what they did happened in the past. [huh??]
Someone please explain to me how the Obama administration plans to prosecute future crimes!
Do not think for a minute that I equate what happend at the camps in Nazi Germany, and what some of those guards did there, to what our guards and "interrrogators" did. What the Nazis did was heinous and horrible, and However, if you don't look too deep, the situations are remarkably similar. In fact the CIA knew, despite the "legal opinions" that what they were doing was wrong, as they had to deal with the FBI at arm's length.
So if we are to be a nation laws as President Obama says we should be, then lets be a nation of laws. Let's not allow the scapegoating of a few officers and enlisted personnel of Abu Gharib to stand. Let's go forward and shine the light of truth into the murky corners of the hidden CIA torture chambers. We should show the world that the United States is a nation of laws and that we will try and convict those responsible for breaking them, whatever their crime, whenever they did it.
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