06:45 pm
Prosecuting Those Responsible for War Crimes
Over at TPM Cafe, Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side, asks the same question that I’ve been asking:
While both McCain and Obama have spoken out against torture, neither has spelled out what he plans to do about holding Bush Administration officials accountable who may have committed or authorized crimes. Understandably, this is a toxic subject, reeking of political payback. But I have personally interviewed CIA officers who have said they refused to partake in the “enhanced interrogation” program because they feared that eventually it would lead to criminal charges. They had seen this happen before, and wanted nothing to do with it, even if it meant in some instances, leaving the CIA. The threat of prosecution clearly acted as a deterrent.
My question is what happens if there is no accountability for America’s first program of state-authorized torture? Does it send a green light to torture again when the next attack takes place? Is it an invitation to other forms of lawlessness by the U.S. Government? But, if top officials of the Bush Administration who were acting in what they believed to be the best interests of the country’s security, are now prosecuted, is that just? Will the public support it? Particularly if Obama is elected, wont this become exhibit A that the Democrats are soft on terrorism, and members of the “Blame-America-First” Club?
. . . [O]n a morning when accountability seems to have evaporated in the financial world - I’d like to know what we do about accountability at the top of our government for authorizing the abuse- and in some cases the killing of U.S.-held prisoners, all of which were criminal until the day before 9/11.
My answer is that we need to prosecute everyone responsible, from Bush down to the CIA agents, military interrogators, and even translators and medical personnel who participated. It is not political payback, but 
justice — let us not forget the fundamental principle that came out of Nuremberg: “I was just following orders” is no excuse for participation in heinous acts.
I suspect that the American people are going to want the Bushies held accountable for everything they’ve done, and that Republicans, who have spent so much time and effort lately running away from their President, will not be in a position to defend him or any of those responsible.
But let’s start from the top, not at the bottom as was done in Abu Ghraib. We need to take down the twelve individuals who designed and implemented America’s first-ever Presidentially sanctioned torture regime: Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, Addington, Yoo, Flanigan, Haynes, Chertoff, Tenet, and Rice. All of them knew what was happening. All of them signed off on these policies. All of them should go to jail.
As Mayer notes, accountability has evaporated under this disastrous regime. We must do everything we can to ensure that it returns, not merely in financial matters, but across the board.
Image via Wikipedia, in the public domain.
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