This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
--In April, Obama faced down very strong pressure from, among others, CIA director Leon Panetta (not to mention Panetta's four immediate predecessors) against releasing four Justice Department memoranda setting forth � ���"approved� �� � torture techniques. Why?
--Obama was quite aware at the time that the court-ordered release of the explosive findings of the CIA Inspector General's investigation was imminent. It would add to our knowledge of how heinous the CIA abuses actually were � ��" and from the horse's mouth.
What did Obama expect � ��" or at least hope � ��" would happen once those damning findings were made public?
--Attorney General Eric Holder, reportedly � ���"sickened� �� � after reading the CIA Inspector General report and facing growing pressure to hold accountable those responsible for the deaths and torture of detainees, has now authorized a preliminary investigation.
This is precisely the fateful step that Dick Cheney and the corral of � ���"anonymous� �� � intelligence sources favored by the Washington Post have been agitating so strongly to prevent. The danger, as they see it, is that the whole ball of twine will unravel and that people will end up with prison terms or even worse.
Are Holder and Obama willing to run that risk? What are they likely to do, or avoid doing, if they conclude that most Americans don't give a hoot about torture carried out in their name?
--Cheney's current gambit is to make it crystal clear that he is not going down alone; that � ��" as he told Bob Schieffer � ��" it was his boss who � ���"signed off� �� � on waterboarding and other � ���"enhanced� �� � interrogation techniques. The former vice president is betting on Obama not having the stomach to pursue a former president for crimes that the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM) trivialize as � ���"policy differences.� �� �
Conflicted though he may be, President Obama did take a solemn oath to ensure that the laws of the land are faithfully executed. What would give him the political support � ��" and the courage � ��" to ensure that justice is pursued, this time not exempting rotten apples at the top of the proverbial barrel?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
