"Suicide" At Gitmo

Read this horrifying account of three alleged suicides at Gitmo. Is this the smoking gun? Will this be the catalyst to finally move the administration to investigate the possible war crimes of the Bush/Cheney folks? One can only hope these crimes are investigated and prosecuted. It sickens me to think that the Obama administration would continue to look the other way.

Question of the Day

Josh Marshall:

Why is Dick Cheney's daughter the only person he can find to go on TV to defend him?

The Long Game of Obama Politics

Andrew Sullivan makes some very good points today about the Obama administrations decision to fight releasing additional photos of detainee abuse in Iraq. However he seems to have missed a very important point: the Obama administration is using the same argument the Bush administration unsuccessfully used in court to prevent the photos from being made public. Obama and his team are no dummies. They know they will lose in court, but this decision is made in deference to military requests to keep the photos under wraps. Sure its pure politics but such is life in Washington. The administration honors the military's request to fight the damning pictures publication, although they know that request will lose in court, thereby gaining a bit of credibility with the military brass.

I will note this too about the politics. If Obama wants to get the truth out, and does not want to be slimed as a partisan avenger (the propaganda line from the Rovians), it helps him to have symbolic spats with those of us who believe we have no choice but to confront the war crimes of the last administration. This has long been his mojo: give symbolic gifts to your opponents while retaining the core issue. These gestures - Rick Warren dinner with Bill Kristol, summits with Cantor - help insulate him from being drawn into them kind of partisan fight the Rove right likes to fight. In this rope, in other words, the anti-torture movement is the current dope.

So long as the investigations continue and some sort of Truth Commission emerges to look at this despicable chapter in our histroy I feel confident the administration is just playing a few moves ahead of it's political opponents.

Troubling News

SecDef Bill Gates ordered a change of command in Afghanistan. It happens. A four star general losing his job rather unceremoniously is a bit of news but what is most troubling abou this episode is the change of command as much as it is who is now replacing McKiernan. He is being replaced by a man who may very well be responsible for war crimes. This is troubling to me. How is it that a President elected on a message of change can then turn around and PROMOTE a man who might be a war criminal?

I am growing impatinet with the new President. This is very bad news.

Andy Just Says No

Andy MCarthy, taking a stand against holding lawyers accountable:

I did something today that I’ve never done before. The Department of Justice, which I proudly served for a quarter century as an assistant U.S. attorney and a deputy U.S. marshal, asked me for help, and I declined. Actually, what I declined to do was attend a meeting.

Oh, how will the DOJ manage? 

(Via)

The Bush War Crimes

The Red Cross, in a confidential report, accused the Bush Administration of violating the Geneva Conventions and committing war crimes. The Obama Administration must now step up and release all pertinent documents. Bush and his gang of war criminals must be brought to justice. CIA Chief Leon Panetta disappoints.

(via Sullivan)

The Party of Torture

Is the Republican party, the party of obstructionist politics? Hilzoy:

I am not, in general, a big fan of saying: Republicans: you lost. Get over it. But in this case, I'm going to make an exception. The Republicans do not seem to be willing to allow the President to do things that are plainly his prerogative: appointing the reasonable, qualified, law-abiding people of his choice, deciding which documents should be declassified, and so forth. Any moment now they'll threaten not to pass the budget unless he sets his air conditioner at their preferred temperature.

Why the Republicans which to continue to gloss over the war crimes of the Bush administration is beyond me.

Maddow 1, Powell 0

Rachel Maddow asks former Secretary of State Colin Powell some tough questions. Listen closely at about the 2:40 mark. Very interesting.

Torture

Sullivan:

Bush and Cheney took Saddam's Abu Ghraib and made it a torture zone under American control. They took Soviet sites in Eastern Europe and revived their record of torture, under the American flag. Bagram was part of a pattern. And people wonder why a person untainted by the past should be CIA director.

Over the past eight years America became what it once despised most. This cancerous malaise is not yet incurable but it certainly is life-threatening.  Will we ever remove this dreadful stain for our reputation? 

War Crimes

Scott Horton presents a case for how the investigation of the Bush Administration war crimes should proceed.

I believe that the commission approach is the way to go forward. I don't deny that Congressional hearings could make some headway. However, I am not persuaded that the Congressional committees have the stamina, the concentration and the expertise to do what is necessary. Over the last year I attended all but two of the hearings the House Judiciary Committee arranged to dig into the torture issue. Bush Administration witnesses used every evasive maneuver known to a wily lawyer to avoid answering the questions raised. And the members did not for the most part know how to ask questions. When a completely dismissive or evasive answer came, they went on to the next question. Questioning needs to be done by a professional interrogator who is focused on building a complete record, not playing to the cameras and the audience in the constituency back home.