Many of us have been alarmed by the obvious effort of the Obama staff to avoid any investigation of confirmed war crimes by the Bush Administration in the torture program. Obama and Attorney General nominee Eric Holder have been suggesting that a war crime investigation would be “uncivil” and “looking backwards.” It has not gone over well since torture is a crime under eight treaties and statutes. Now, General Michael V. Hayden claims that Obama secretly promised him that there would be no war crimes investigation or prosecution in a meeting in Chicago.
Hayden’s role in this growing controversy is particularly distressing for civil libertarians. Not only does it confirm signals coming from the Obama camp since the election, but Hayden has been a particularly dark figure in the unlawful surveillance and torture programs, including statements that have been criticized as knowingly misleading or outright false.
Hayden had a closed door meeting with Obama last month in Chicago. He said Obama made it clear that the Bush Administration and CIA staff have nothing to worry about. “He’s looking forward,” Hayden said, “and that’s very appropriate.” If true, it would be confirmation of a bait-and-switch by the democrats. For years, the Democrats insisted that they could not act on torture until they controlled Congress. Once they were given both houses of Congress, Democrats insisted that they could not do anything without control of the White House. When they won the White House, the Democrats insisted that there was not enough time before Inauguration. Now, they are insisting that they must “look to the future: and notably not to the war crimes in the immediate past.
Democrats believe that they have nothing to gain personally and politically from prosecuting war crimes. They have been trying to sell people on yet another meaningless commission as a substitute for prosecution.
Not surprisingly, Obama aides are denying the story, here.
Of course, there is a very easy way to dispel any such rumors. Obama simply needs to say that any war crimes will be investigated and, if evidence if found of such crimes, prosecuted. That is what it means when Obama and Holder repeatedly say “no one is above the law.” The fact that they have struggled to simply commit themselves to enforce the law is highly worrisome and only serves to confirm the Hayden story.
For the full story, click here.
rafflaw,
The problem with the video “evidence” is that statements therein were not spoken under any legally binding oath subject to perjury.
I have read these posts with interest because the torture issue has been a issue for me for a long time. I agree with all of you here that express your “optimism” that the Obama administration will investigate the Bush regime’s crimes. The facts that Jill linked to on Glenn Greenwald’s blog are rock solid. The new administration has no deference or prosecutorial discretion when it comes to torture and other war crimes. Once the Bush regime admitted to waterboarding 3 detainees(if you believe that small number)they admitted to torture under our laws and international law. Once Bush and Cheney admitted on national TV that they authorized the waterboarding, they provided the Obama administration video confessions of war crimes. The actions by Conyers and others and the language used by Holder are purposeful. They are telling us that actions will be taken. To my mind the only question is what type of action will be taken. Tuesday is one of the biggest days of m/our lives. It represents a new start domestically and internationally. That new start must and will include the investigation and prosecution of the Bush administration. Besides, I have to echo someone’s earlier statement here, why in the hell would anyone believe the word of Hayden? He is try to preempt the investigations that are coming and trying to lay out a defense that he was “promised” by Obama that no prosecutions will happen. I think Hayeden and his superiors should start lawyering up now.
I fear that Bush is going to pardon himself, Cheney et al. for all war crimes. I see no reason why he won’t do this. It will be an outrage.
Jill,
I read Mr. Greenwald’s column on a daily basis. All of his excellent articles that I have read are precise, in-depth, and exceptionally informative.
The only means with which our democracy can return to the rule of law and ensure adherence to the U.S. Constitution is for constitutional law scholars such as Mr. Greenwald and Professor Turley et al. to continue their insistence that war crimes receive ‘investigation’ and allow legal due process the government owes the American citizens.
CCD: I guess misery does enjoy company. Unfortunately, I was not smart enough, and too trusting of my ‘big bank’, to put ‘any’ of my funds under my mattress. As long as the “no credit risk” U.S. Treasury Securities do not tank—definitely not a given with the cumulative $2 Trillion bail-out, economic stimulus package, etc—then, at least, I can pay my taxes (first!) and then eat.
In my view of life, there have always been 3 certainties—to borrow two of those from a cliché—death and taxes; and then, I used to add ‘the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government’. Well, I can apparently now discount and repudiate ‘my’ 3rd certainty in life.
Patty C: Your optimism is important; however, appearances are that we citizens must ‘force’ Mr. Obama to employ the legally and morally correct actions to ensure due process.
I touched on the whole liability exposure issue, again,
last night, briefly, re Rodriguez, head of clandestine operations following the destroyed tapes etc. This article from WaPo is from September 2006, not long after Hayden became CIA Chief in May. It’s hardly a new issue, but certainly one that has been a burr in Hayden’s saddle his entire tenure.
———–
Worried CIA Officers Buy Legal Insurance
Plans Fund Defense In Anti-Terror Cases
By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 11, 2006; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/10/AR2006091001286.html
…”Robert M. McNamara Jr., the CIA’s general counsel from 1997 to November 2001, said he advised station chiefs to buy the insurance. “The problem is that we are the victims of shifting winds here,” McNamara said he told the officers. “I can’t sit here and tell you in all cases that I will be able to defend you.”
However, McNamara’s predecessor as CIA general counsel, Jeffrey H. Smith, said: “I’m deeply troubled that CIA officers have to buy insurance. . . . There should be clear rules about what the officers can and can’t do. The fault here is with more senior people who authorized interrogation techniques that amount to torture” and should now be liable, instead of “the officers who carried it out.”
I was surprised by Rachel’s suggestion that Susan J Crawford’s admission of torture in the case of Mohammed al-Qahtani
was ‘staged’ for release, this week, in particular.
As I previously mentioned, I am choosing to be encouraged that John Conyers et al are preparing to move ahead with a bill and a panel and also that Eric Holder stated in his testimony that the incoming administration believes the President works best in concert with the legislature.
I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, I am in touch with my state elected officials, as usual.
FFLEO
I share your sense of disenfranchisement. Keep the powder dry, and hold fast to the knot tied to the end of your rope. We go to the mattresses some time this week.
Jill
Thanks for the important Glenn Greenwald reminder.
Here is an excellent anaylsis of the situation presented by Glenn Greenwald in his column today.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
What a conundrum. We are at a nexus where we must decide who the most corrupt, Janus-faced liar is:
1) An Air Force 4-Star General who is the outgoing head of our CIA!
Or
2) Our new president who promised “change”
We common citizens who employ these “public servants” are becoming duped fools who do not understand, cannot understand, do not care, or realize that we are powerless to contest what is occurring at the highest levels of our democracy.
Lunatic and MSNBCer,
Torture does not keep us safe, in fact it puts us in far more danger than remaining a country that follows the law. The idea that gwb can be believed is ludicrous. You see people on this blog who do not agree with each other. Argue your case with facts. Otherwise I’ll take it that all you’re here for is to divert attention away from the reality of cheney and bush’s war crimes.
The Donors Who Gave Big and Often
Obama’s $200,000-Plus Backers Were Able to Contribute to Several Entities
By Kimberly Kindy and Sarah Cohen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, January 18, 2009; A02
Nearly 200 wealthy families and power couples contributed at least $200,000 each to help Barack Obama over the past two years, creating an elite set of donors.
The families gave to as many as five committees, records show, and 27 of the 94 families also bundled money from others, collecting millions of dollars on top of their personal donations.
Among the supporters were well-known families such as the Rockefellers, as well as lesser-known backers such as New Yorker Frank Brosens, a leader in the hedge fund industry, who raised $1,500,000 for Obama’s campaign and inauguration in addition to the $282,000 he gave with his wife, parents and three sons.
The $200,000 group stands in stark contrast to the so called grass-roots campaign that Obama’s team talked about.
Many big donors will also watch Obama be sworn in next week, but from premium seats, and will attend an inaugural ball and other private celebrations using tickets they received in exchange for their donations.
MORE AT WP.
Noticed on MTP this AM that coffee boy Gregory (we seem him spending more time making coffee than research) FAILED to ask Rahm Emmanual why when Geitner had been PAID the taxes due by the IMF and had signed a CERTIFICATION that he undersood the money was for tax and that he would file and send it to the IRS; why after all this, Obama still supports the tax cheat.
The closest Gregory came to anything was asking why Geitner didn’t pay the 2001 and 2002 taxes when he knew he had violated the law until after he was nominated as treasury secretary. We, of course, all know why. HE WANTED TO KEEP THE MONEY.
Obama is proving to be worse than President Bush. At least we can believe what President Bush tells us. So far everything Obama has said has been for political gain through and through and that won’t change 1/21/09.
I think it’s time people got serious about what Obama is going to do with war crimes prosecutions. Obama is bright, well educated & extremely competent. Above all else, he is a political animal through & through.
As reprehensible as this whole chapter in our history has been, Obama surely grasps this fundamental fact: a majority of the American people think torture is OK as long as it keeps them safe & happens to somebody else in places where it can’t get much attention. I think this view is all wrong factually & morally, but that doesn’t make any difference. I don’t watch “24” either.
If Obama were truly of Lincolnesque stature, he might try to convince the people otherwise & push the prosecutions forward. But Obama has seldom if ever sacrificed politics to principle & has yet to give any indication that he will do otherwise in this matter. Hayden may be a lying S.O.B., but his leak lines up perfectly with all of Obama’s public pronouncements on this issue.
The last thing Obama wants to happen is an attack on America under his term. He will more than likely utilize far more “questionable” tools than the Bush Administration did since he needs to skate through possibly 8 years without atttacks – a tough act to follow after President Bush kept us safe for 7.
Obama Pricey Party Will Exceed $200 Million
The price tag for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration gala is expected to break by records by exceeding $200 million in cost.
AP
Sunday, January 18, 2009
The price tag for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration gala is expected to break records, reaching $200 million.
Despite the bleak economy Democrats who called on President George W. Bush to be frugal four years ago are issuing no such demands now that an inaugural weekend of rock concerts and star-studded parties has begun for a member of their own Party.
mespo,
I agree with you that Hayden is a bastard and this leak was deliberate. At this level of intelligence it’s “wheels within wheels” and it would be nearly impossible to guess what machinations lie behind the leak.
That being said, Obama’s statements before this leak match the information that Hayden said. Obama said he didn’t want CIA officers “looking over their shoulders” and “When it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future, as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past,” (from the WP article). The prior public statements do match with the leak.
JT also addressed this issue by saying Obama need only come out publically and state he plans to investigate. So far we have not heard this from him. JT writes: “Of course, there is a very easy way to dispel any such rumors. Obama simply needs to say that any war crimes will be investigated and, if evidence if found of such crimes, prosecuted.”
We then are left with the suggestion by Mike Spinell and others that Obama is playing his cards close to the vest until he takes office. If that is the case, Obama will not mind a lot of pressure being put on him by citizens to do what he plans to do anyway. This would be a good time for every citizen of conscience to come forward and lay on the pressure. If Obama must pretend he will not prosecute until he is in office, it does not follow that citizens must remain silent. As Glenn Greenwald pointed out, the forces who are against even a mild, toothless investigation are not remaining silent. Those of us who believe, at minimum, a blue ribbon panel should be appointed, should not remain silent either.
More proof of how utterly broken our government is and how little difference there is between our political parties. The system is broken, there is no accountability. We have abdicated any moral standing we once had in the world. We will see in the comming days what “change” really looks like. I am hopeful but realistic.
Did you notice Nancy Pelosi on Fox News Sunday demonstrated total jealousy and animosity towards the Obama worshippers in her party.
GOD BLESS HAYDEN, CHENEY, AND ESPECIALLY PRESIDENT BUSH!
So how much longer does the Obama worship go on! It has been two solid days on TV, every newspaper, even Parade Magazine. The Messiah has ARRIVED!
Let’s see now, chief of CIA charged with keeping the Nation’s secrets, reveals secret conversation with incoming President to protect him and his minions from facing the music on admitted war crimes. BTW CIA chief not exactly the best at recalling things (i.e. see 4th Amendment fiasco supra). Incoming President denies the claim. Oh who to believe?