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Turley on 'The Rachel Maddow Show' for Monday, March 23 at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29859430/ has also said that "Yes, the fact that he is having a dialogue with Dick Cheney that he finds irritating is understandable. And the reason Obama seems very irritated by it is that he is responsible for the conversation. Because he's the one that is blocking a criminal investigation of Vice President Cheney and President Bush and other Bush officials. It is like a bank robber calling up and asking him to debate bank robbery.
President Obama would say, "Listen, fellow. That is a crime." But of course, he hasn't said that with Dick Cheney. He can't say that. Instead, he says, "How long will it take for us to reconcile our values?" These are not just our values. They are the law. He should be saying what you are describing is a crime. And if he would allow an investigation to well-defined war crimes, Dick Cheney would not be making public statements. He would be surrounded by criminal defense counsel. So this would be the shortest investigation in history. You have Bush officials who have said that we tortured people. We have interrogators who have said we tortured people."
Regarding that convenient moment, Turley expounds, "The fact is he has been told by his adviser that it would be grossly unpopular to investigate and prosecute Bush officials. Well, that is a perfectly horrible reason not to follow principle."
Suppose someone explains to Obama that there is never going to be a truly convenient moment and that Obama must be thinking about our standing in the international what should Obama do?
Turley states as the article continues "He should be appointing a special prosecutor. There is no question about that. This is the most well-defined and publicly known crime I have seen in my lifetime. There is no debate about it. There is no ambiguity. It is well known. ...We don't need a truth and reconciliation commission because we are already reconciled to the rule of law. There is nothing to reconcile to."
Remember how when big bro 43 was asked to appear before the 9/11 Commission he demanded that Cheney come with him. Well big bro 43 better tell Cheney to button it as GOP members of the House and Condi Rice have as the article continues with Maddow asking "I wonder, ultimately, if the fact that Dick Cheney continues to talk about this issue and continues to promote it as if it is a solution and something the Obama administration ought to feel ashamed for not having continued will ultimately be the thing that creates the political room the Obama administration feels that they need in order to proceed legally."
The article continues as Turley states "You know, Cheney is dialoguing. He's trying - the more he talks in public, the more he makes this look like a policy and not a legal issue which is exactly what he wants. And the reason that the Obama administration is now pulling back on the truth
commission is because they have finally realized that if the truth commission actually investigates, it will be the shortest investigation in history. There is no question there is a war crime.
And at the end, people are going to wonder how and why did you block this? It is like a live torpedo in the water and it is going to come back and hit him. And that is why President Obama is beginning to pull back. The easiest thing to do is get out of the way, say, "You know what, this is not about values. This is about the law. I took an oath to God to enforce the law.
And you know what, fellow? You are going to be a target of an investigation. And maybe you are not guilty. Maybe you are. But it is not for me to decide it. It's for a special prosecutor."
How much evidence is there?
The 23 MARCH 2009 article "CIA Has 3,000 Documents on Torture Tapes" at
http://www.truthout.org/032309A states 'The CIA has about 3,000 documents related to the 92 destroyed videotapes that showed "war on terror" detainees being subjected to harsh interrogations, the Justice Department has disclosed, suggesting an extensive back-and-forth
between CIA field operatives and officials of the Bush administration."
Pretty soon the US will see the documents as the article continues "The Justice Department's restrictive handling of the 3,000 documents comes one day after Attorney General Holder issued sweeping new FOIA guidelines for all executive branch agencies to "apply a presumption of openness when administering the FOIA."
"The American people have the right to information about their government's activities, and these new guidelines will ensure they are able to obtain that information under principles of openness and transparency," Holder said.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but we have 3,000 documents and we had the pictures of Abu Ghraib and the CIA revealed that it had destroyed ninety-two videotapes of terror interrogations.
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