January 2009

By David Swanson

President Obama wants to avoid criminalizing policy differences and avoid partisan witch hunts. This is taken to mean that Holder will not appoint a special prosecutor for torture.

But the only reason everyone is focused on torture as something to prosecute is that Obama has sought to make it a policy difference. We could prosecute illegal aggressive war and attacks on civilians, but Obama is continuing the illegal occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan and has already attacked read more

The embedding doesn’t work for part 2, but both parts are now posted here.

This is part 1 of a two-part debate, in which my opponent (not to mention the moderator) pretty well agreed with me that Bush and Cheney should be prosecuted. But it was probably not a topic she would ever have brought up if not asked. Such is the power of the media, and the need to support the Real News Network.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has expressed concern that President Obama’s executive order banning torture may contain a loophole. But no president has any right to declare torture legal or illegal, with or without loopholes. And if we accept that presidents have such powers, even if our new president does good with them, then loopholes will be the least of our worries.

Torture is, and has long been, illegal in every case, without exception. It is banned by our Bill of Rights, the read more