In a major decision, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that he has found that the Justice Department has acted improperly in barring any criminal investigation of well-documented war crimes committed by the Bush Administration in the torture program. To punish the failure of the Department to act in a timely fashion, he has announced that no criminal charges will be pursued regarding torture to teach prosecutors a lesson that “justice delayed is justice denied.”
On April 1, 2009, Holder held a press conference in which he was angry over the failure over Acting Associate Attorney General Daniel Marcus and Lanny Breuer, head of the Criminal Division, to even investigate the commission of war crimes despite a public record of the crime.
“I am simply perplexed by what these prosecutors were waiting for. These are crimes committed and discussed virtually in front of the Justice Department building. The International Red Cross found that this was torture. Bush officials admitted that it was torture. Interrogators said it was torture. Both the President and I have said waterboarding is torture. Well, folks, torture is not just a crime, it is a well-defined war crime. Now, we have Spain investigating crimes that we failed to investigate. The failure of Messrs. Marcus and Breuer to act shows the very type of political pressure that corrupted the Justice Department under my predecessors.”
Holder announced that he will now let Spain enforce these laws to teach prosecutors a lesson — much as he did with the Stevens case. Holder noted “I’m no fool. I promised the Senate that I would no longer engage in political acts like those I was accused of committing while a member of the Clinton Administration. The failure of these officials to act in the face of confirmed crimes is intolerable and makes me look like a political hack.” In a bow to the Spaniards, Holder noted that “the fact is that the Spanish legal system is much older than the United States and they have had more experience dealing with waterboarding since the Inquisition and war crimes since the Spanish Civil War.”
Holder indicated that his policy of punishing the Justice Department by barring investigations or prosecutions against criminals will be a continuing tool for discipline of his administration. Holder noted that it is sometimes necessary to “do good by doing nothing” and that he will not hesitate to punish his department in a similar fashion in the future in these highly politicized cases. “I am not some April Fool,” he insisted, “despite the views of many.”
For a full explanation of this story, click here.
BTW, Happy April Fool’s day, everyone.
Holder is sure up early this morning. I read this at 9:15 a.m. D.C. time, and I don’t know how long it has been posted.
Hog wash! Politics as usuual. Double speak. They mean the opposite of what they say.
This leaves me with dozens of questions. I’m hoping I’ll see Prof. Turley on Countdown or the Rachel Maddow Show for some expounding.
I hope he and DOJ will aid Spain in these investigations with extradition, etc. Let’s give Spain all the assistance needed to investigate all US War Criminals.
It appears members of the Justice Dept. are guilty of War Crimes in suppression of these investigations.
Obama is already a well-documented War Criminal of many years.
Very busy AG, Henry. In addition to dropping the war crimes investigation and the Stevens prosecution(see Stevens below), he reversed the DOJ stance on DC voting rights, overruling JT.
With this decsion and the dropping of charges against Ted Stevens-Ex Senator from Akaska,I to will be looking for the Prof. somewhwhere on the tube.
The Onion broke this first! Brilliant, JT. I threw up a little bit when I heard the news about Holder purportedly “sending a message that this conduct won’t be tolerated” when it was really sending a message that it will.
Can it be that Obama is willing to go beyond Bush? Bush, for whatever reason, chose not to pardon Libby, over Cheney’s objections. I imagined that, on some level, he hesitated to overturn a jury verdict and felt that the commutation. But Obama, via Holder, appears to be willing to go beyond what even the defense was seeking, a new trial, to supposedly “send a message” to his AUSA’s. Sickening.
Happy April Fools Day.
This is just ridiculous. Let me get this straight. First the administration drags its feet and refuses to prosecute and now says that because it refused to prosecute it will, well, not pursue any prosecution. Hmm. Interesting tactic. They are looking for a way to criticize the fact they failed to prosecute while at the same time getting away with failing to prosecute. All they are doing is diminishing their credibility.
Do “good” by doing nothing…That’s about it!
Is this an April Fool’s joke?
Some people find April Fool’s jokes by news organizations and other people who you can normally rely on funny.
I’m afraid I don’t.
Let’s start shipping the U.S. War Criminals to Spain and the Hague! This includes Obama / Bush and their administrations, Congress, US judges, DOJ offenders, US main stream media, etc.
I mean even i can lighten up once in a while but this may border on torture as well!
not even the Obama administration can fight a war against its own people on both the economic and political fronts
april fools all!(i hope)
Uncle Ted is CON-nected. That poor dear old man. Thank goodness Eric cares about the elderly (as long as they’re rich and connected).
Happy April Fools!!!
Attorney General Holder stands in the great American tradition of jurisprudence best exemplified by our 57th AG and Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson who, when addressing the Nuremberg IMT trials of major Nazi war criminals following World War II as the Chief American Prosecutor stated, “Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue over who killed who.”
AG Holder will soon be addressing issues of malfeasance and nonfeasance by present and former administration and congressional officials with respect to the Foreign Assistance Act (22 USC 2151 et seq.), Arms Export Control Act (22 USC 2771-2781) and Israel’s recent Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
I also heard that Eric Holder addressed the following deep concerns of many:
“Can nuclear splooge really turn us into flesh-eating zombies? Is it such a good idea to go into the basement of the last house on the left? {Uncle Ted says it’s fine if you don’t know who paid for the addition}. And that naked girl sure looks great zooming around on a motorcycle–but did she at least wipe the seat first?
(written by Stephanie Zacharek in “The B List”)
This is a joke, right? Please tell me that this is just an April Fool’s joke.
There is some logic here in not letting Obama and his DOJ / administration investigate US War Crimes.
US War Criminals should not be investigating US War Crimes.
I believe legally they have the right, according to treaties, to pass the investigations to another country or countries.
This has to be the most backwards press announcement in the history of government. It makes my head spin how wrongheaded the logic is.
“…Holder noted that it is sometimes necessary to “do good by doing nothing” and that he will not hesitate to punish his department in a similar fashion in the future in these highly politicized cases.”
*****************
I’ll take Edmund Burke’s observation on doing nothing over Holder’s:
‘When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” (“Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents” (1770))
Loosely translated today to, “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
Man, and after I made a pledge to myself to not get duped today it’s already happened so many times…
Folks,
I learned when I first started visting this fine blawg, be certain to click on all of the embedded blue links, especially the the one marked ( here )at the end of Professor Turley’s big STORY.
“…and makes me look like a political hack.”
***************
It certainly does. I do appreciate the irony is hogtying the DOJ from doing its job, when doing its job would correct the abuses,and also punish the guilty. So why not prevent it from doing its job, and let the guilty go free. Perfect logic wouldn’t you agree.
FFLEO,
That’s what’s fun about April fools! This one worries me because it will give Holder “ideas”! It’s really not far off the mark in any way and that’s saying something.
That we were so easily fooled says something about Holder.
Duh.
A delicious piece of irony by JT, that at the same time raised a legal question and no doubt is bedeviling his classes if he is teaching today.
mespo,
I agree. I read that post headline and I didn’t have any problem with thinking Holder would say exactly that. It really does say something about how far he’s sunk. Rereading Holder’s quote in David Cole’s NY Review article yesterday, I wonder what happen to this man. Here’s the quote:
“Here’s what Eric Holder, whom Obama will nominate as attorney general, said several months ago: {written on Jan. 2009}
Our government authorized the use of torture, approved of secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants and authorized the procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution…. We owe the American people a reckoning.”
Here is what tipped me off, although my blood pressure was a’risin’ while I was reading Prof Turley’s article. Earlier this morning I read about Holder’s recommendation regarding the Stevens case. I immediately thought—and before I read JT’s article—that Holder might have done this to deflect dissension from any of his future decisions to appoint a special prosecutor for investigations of war crimes. Given Prof Turley’s extraordinary wit and intelligence, he reversed that ‘logic’ to having Holder asking for vacating both Stevens’ conviction and any future war crime investigations. I just knew that both of these “decisions” on the same day could not be plausible.
I sure am pleased that Prof Turley is extremely busy with his lawyering, professorship, commentary, and all of his other myriad tasks because if not, further such exhibitions of his brilliant and sometimes deceptive wit—that others often misinterpret—might cause heart problems and anger throughout the free world.
BTW, how in the world does Turley find the time to write this blawg?! Surely, he has a ghostwriter, although that seems illogical since how could there be more than 2 humans with such quick wit, intelligence, and inexhaustible talents?
Told You So.
Please explain mr. phd…
Props to JT!
At first glance I was worried that Holder had sold out entirely. Thank goodness it is just an April Fools Prank!
There otta be a law against this kind of April Fool’s!
“I am not some April Fool,” he insisted, “despite the views of many.”>>
The Attorney General doth protest too much, methinks.
Good one JT- I almost destroyed my keyboard with coffee spray. I wasn’t surprised by your last line, I was waiting for it but I gotta’ tell ya’, the political arena is so bizarre these days I was really, REALLY waiting for that last line. And at one point kind’a optimistic that we could just deport these scum to Spain for trial
Lawyers! I was had. I bounced over to doj looking for the press release. Read the last line as incidental.
WOW!
Collin Powell on Rachael Maddow tonight pretty well blew all the torture accusations right back in her face!
Among other revelations, Powell indicated meetings he attended were 1) documented and 2) all in a format that ensured no violations of law occurred.
TOO BAD LEFTYS!
You could just see Rachael’s face drop and hear her cry out for (overweight) boy hero Jon Turley!
When & how does Senator Stevens get his respect and Senate seat back.
Senator Stevens was set up by pig crap liberals.
This is hillarious:
the SAME prosecutors that insisted that Senator Stevens leaving some gifts off his reports were evidence of a major crime ARE NOW saying the small amount of these gifts means that the Prosecutors were NOT acting in bad faith by withholding information they had on these gifts!!!
UNBELIEVABLE! ONLY IN LIBERAL LAND!
WOW!
Collin Powell on Rachael Maddow tonight pretty well blew all the torture accusations right back in her face!
Among other revelations, Powell indicated meetings he attended were 1) documented and 2) all in a format that ensured no violations of law occurred.
TOO BAD LEFTYS!
You could just see Rachael’s face drop and hear her cry out for (overweight) boy hero Jon Turley!
Yeah, and lord knows we should believe Colin Powell. After all, he saw weapons of mass destruction when no one else could …except maybe Bush.
LOL! Same old same old.
Slander a man (Collin Powell) who devoted his life to serving the country.
YOU SICK BASTARD LIBERALS have no shame.
PUCK YOU ALL…..!!!!!
Ping,
You may want to check your calendar. The Stevens prosecution was during the Bush regime. It is the Obama Justice Department that is admitting that the Bush people broke the rules. Of course, I shouldn’t expect a troll to worry about the facts!
A life time of serving your country well – Colin Powell. I agree.
Lied to every leader in the world, and every American in the country, at the United Nations – I agree.
If Colin Powell approved of waterboarding, he violated US and International Law.
Turley,
You got me here for a moment. This is a good one. Happy April Fool’s day to you too.
Good stuff on the prank. My heart sank when I read the “news”.
Rafflaw, if Powell approved of this sort of stuff he did indeed violate International Law. I think he is easing us into his violation on shows like Maddow’s because, perhaps, he wants to roll on his associates in exchange for a lenient sentence. I’ve heard of “turning state’s”. Perhaps Powell is “turning international’s”?
Arrest ERIC HIMPTON HOLDER, JR. He is a COWARD and TRAITOR. Seditious maniac.
E-mail: michaelcmurawski@yahoo.com
Tina Turner says: We Don’t Need Another Hero. I wonder if we will ever change. Hold up: Yes. Arrest BARACK OBAMA, too. Same charges.
Mr. Murawski, your opinions, while forcefully stated, appear a tad conclusory. Perhaps you could fill in some gaps. For example, what in the world are you talking about?
I’m with those who are more than a little peeved that a matter THIS important is fodder for an April Fool’s joke.
Shame on you, JT.
When this was originally posted all one had to do was click “here” to get the full story which immediately showed it was an April’s Fool Prank. I tend to do that with all posts by JT, not because I don’t trust him, but because he is writing a summary based on his sense of the case. For clarity’s sake and to gain perspective it is always better to get the full story (though in these days of journalistic nadir that is sometimes difficult) and because part of JT’s charm is his droll sense of humor and irony.
WPF:
I think it was a fine April fools joke and I knew it to be so right off the bat.
I think he did it for the conservative members of the blog as a gesture of good will.
Although I think Bush should be tried for more than just war crimes, how about ruining the economy and his insistence on bringing “democracy” to the mid east. Now those are 2 things I could get on board with.
rofl
I’m glad I read the date of the post. Nice shot, JT!
And mespo’s observation about the ease of belief of such a statement from Holder is all to sad but true.
War crimes trials become more imperative every day.