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Forgive Not

By possum

On the opinion page of the New York Times today is a piece by Dahlia Lithwick entitled Forgive Not in which an argument is made for accountability in government.  Lithwick argues for a full investigation of recent administration activities.

...it's clear that the first step will be a thorough determination of what has occurred.

INSTEAD of looking closely at what high-level officeholders in the Bush administration have done over the past eight years, and recognizing what we have tacitly permitted, we would rather turn our faces forward toward a better future, promising that 2009 and the inauguration of Barack Obama will mean ringing out Guant?namo Bay and ringing in due process; it will bring the end of waterboarding and the reinstatement of the Geneva Conventions.

Taking the easier, softer way is not going to bring about the resolution our nation and the world need today.

investigation or prosecution of senior officials who authorized torture and warrant-less surveillance rarely even bother offering legal justifications

Platitudes are offered suggesting there are other more pressing problems to be addressed.  Many like Vice-President Cheney insist there is no legal ground for investigation or prosecution.  Some within the Obama administration suggest there is no political will for investigation.

Of course all this is not the language of the law either. It is the language of self-fulfilling prophecy. With each successive recitation that there is no political will, the political will dissipates.

The American public led by the media and the words of elected officials follow along in quiet resolution accepting without question the various rationalizations.

We are full of good intentions, but unwilling to hold ourselves to account.

The Bush administration made its worst errors in judgment when it determined that the laws simply don't apply to certain people.

The world deserves a full accounting for all the actions taken under that premise.

The process of investigating and prosecuting crimes makes up the bricks and mortar of our prosecutorial system.

Without full investigation and reporting to the public there can be no justice served.

As the chief prosecutor for the United States at the Nuremberg trials, Robert Jackson, warned: "Law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power."

If or not we will see any form of investigation or any real reporting of past crimes remains to be seen.  At least there are those in the media and in our society keeping the possibility alive and well.

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).