Events will force Obama to act and investigate and prosecute Cheney and the war criminals. It isn't only the US that is concerned about torturing detainees. And it isn't only Cheney the world is after. Obama will have to honor his base's concern over torture and investigate and prosecute the war criminals.

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but the wheels of justice are grinding slowly.

The article "Cheney still in crosshairs of Senate Intelligence probe" at click here states "Former Vice President Dick Cheney isn't out of the woods yet for his role in briefing Congress on the Bush Administration's secretive harsh interrogation program.

In a carefully worded statement to Mother Jones' David Corn for an article Wednesday, a spokesman for Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein indicated that the conduct of individuals who briefed Congressmembers on the CIA's interrogation program is under review.

"The Senate intelligence committee's study includes an examination of how the committee was briefed on the CIA's detention and interrogation program," Phil LaVelle, a Feinstein spokesperson, was quoted as saying. "This includes briefings of committee leadership, and is not limited by who conducted the briefing."

The Intelligence Committee's probe has been ongoing - quietly - since March. But "there have been no public hearings," Corn writes. "In fact, Feinstein has made no commitment to hold hearings on this subject or to release a public report when the investigation is completed. The committee said in March that its investigation would take about a year.

"The committee has restricted this part of its review and is not examining briefings provided to other committees–such as the House intelligence committee–according to a congressional source familiar with the probe." he adds.

"But given that Cheney briefed two senior members of the Senate intelligence panel, the committee can review what Cheney told Roberts and Rockefeller about the interrogation program and evaluate whether his assertions were supported by the facts.

That is, the Cheney briefing is fair game for the Senate investigators.

Feinstein's spokesman declined to comment on whether the committee was investigating the 2005 briefing Cheney gave Senate Intelligence Committee members. "The committee is not confirming or denying any specific aspects of its inquiry, including the witnesses it has or will be interviewing," Corn avers."

So the Intelligence Committee's probe has 9 months to go it concludes.

Since they have made no commitment to even release a public report when the investigation is completed we might not even hear another word about the investigation. Even though the Obama administration desperately hopes it will, the torture issue will not fade away as not only the US government is involved with this.

If the US won't do the right thing then the world will!

The article "Rumsfeld to 'face difficulties' over Guantanamo: UN expert" at click here states "Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld could soon be in trouble for the role he played in human rights abuses committed in the Guantanamo prison, a United Nations expert said Wednesday.

"In a year or two, his responsibilities will be established. Wherever he goes, he will face difficulties," Leandro Despouy, who is Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, told journalists in Geneva."

And Cheney isn't going away any time soon and his lies have to be addressed. The article "Cheney Blames Richard Clarke For 9/11: 'He Missed It'" at click here shows just how vile and desperate Cheney is as it states:

"Writing in Sunday's Washington Post, Richard Clarke, the former counterrorism chief under Presidents Clinton and Bush, slammed Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice for invoking what he called "the White House 9/11 trauma defense" - namely, the shock of 9/11 was so great as to justify all and any actions taken in the name of national defense. Clarke called the decisions on interrogations, detentions, and Iraq were all "wrong," and the White House panic proved that Cheney and company had simply been ignoring the warning signs: Cheney's admission that 9/11 caused him to reassess the threats to the nation only underscores how, for months, top officials had ignored warnings from the CIA and the NSC staff that urgent action was needed to preempt a major al-Qaeda attack."

That Cheney is lying is easily verifiable fact and this article spells that out and the article exhibits that Cheney is adhering to that Rove/Cheney tactic of never apologizing, but always attacking as it states "Speaking at the National Press Club today, Cheney struck back at Clarke.

When asked about Clarke's argument, Cheney - once again - invoked the "burning ashes" of 9/11 and the victims who leaped to their deaths from the World Trade Center. Then, quite succinctly, Cheney pinned the entire blame for 9/11 on Clarke stating "You know, Dick Clarke. Dick Clarke, who was the head of the counterrorism program in the run-up to 9/11. He obviously missed it. The fact is that we did what we felt we had to do, and if I had to do it all over again, I would do exactly the same thing."

Everyone has had enough of the lies and as the article continues Cheney was grilled as "When the moderator reminded Cheney that Clarke had repeatedly warned the administration about al Qaeda's determination to attack the U.S., Cheney snarkily replied, "That's not my recollection, but I haven't read his book." In fact, it was Cheney who "missed" the warning signs, not Clarke."

The US public, just as this moderator, realizes that Cheney is lying to them and has had its fill of hypocrisy. Any lawyer would tell Cheney to clam up, but he can't. Why? Maybe Cheney really wants to atone for his crimes and wants to be re-educated to eradicate his "thoughtcrime" and his inability to keep quiet is a desperate plea for help.

The article "Waterboarding was 'well done,' Cheney says" at click here ironically shows that he can dish it out, but can he take it? If Obama lets the "Truth Commission" proceed Cheney will be thrown away with no access to the media to continue his propaganda campaign-a fate worse than death for this ghoul who seems to possess an obsessive need to gain support for his crimes as the article states

"Former Vice President Dick Cheney is usually very careful at choosing his words. Perhaps not so today. In a speech Monday at the National Press Club, continuing along familiar themes of terrorism, Guantanamo and his hatred for The New York Times, Cheney spoke defensively of the administration's practice of water-boarding detainees. "I don't believe we tortured," Cheney remarked, noting that the interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration were vetted by White House lawyers.

They didn't cross a "red line," he said. And then he delivered the whopper: "There were three people who were water-boarded.... It was well-done."

The GOP is desperately thrashing about in an attempt to lay the blame for torture on the Democrats. They are abandoning the procedures that our law requires for preserving classified information revealing it for partisan gain.

This is weighing against US populace's opinion of the GOP. On Thursday Republicans started controversy by revealing some of what they had been told at a closed-door Intelligence Committee hearing on the interrogation of terrorism suspects. Democrats immediately blasted the GOP lawmakers for publicly discussing classified information, while Republicans said Democrats are trying to hide the truth that enhanced interrogation of detainees is effective.

The GOP has as much credibility as Cheney-none. "I am absolutely shocked that members of the Intelligence committee who attended a closed-door hearing... then walked out that hearing – early, by the way – and characterized anything that happened in that hearing," said Intelligence Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).

"My understanding is that's a violation of the rules. It may be more than that."

Anybody who realizes just how vile the GOP has become due to Rove's influence would predict that they would violate any process for partisan gain. "I think they are playing a very dangerous game when it comes to the discussion of matters that were sensitive enough to be part of a closed hearing," Schakowsky said.

The Democrats want to investigate how this blight on our record could have occurred. Cheney's constant droning on of lies regarding torture emboldened other GOP members to attack Nancy Pelosi. Obama knows if it wasn't Pelosi it would be some other Democrat.

Let's just remember the McCain campaign against Obama. Obama hasn't betrayed the ideals he campaigned on and when he had an interactive town hall meeting the primary concern of US citizens was torture, but he is trying to work with the most vicious group of GOP ghouls ever. They would love to see Obama fail, as articulated by their spokesperson Rush Limbaugh, and if the country's economy, standing in the world and security has to falter for GOP partisan gain, so be it.

Cheney and his propaganda about war crimes is a situation that can't persist.  Obama has the power. Someday Obama's advisors will convince him that they can't allow the crackpot Cheney to continue hurling salvos at the Democratic Party with impunity. Someday Obama will no longer see him as a troublesome crank, but as someone who must be silenced and then Obama will eagerly endorse the "Truth Commission" with prosecutions not ruled out.

When that occurs we'll consider that Obama has remained true to his campaign pledges.

Authors Bio:
Winston Smith is an ex-Social Worker. I worked in child welfare, and in medical settings and in homeless settings. In the later our facility was geared as a permanent address for people to apply for welfare. Once they received that we could send them to facilities in which their welfare paid the bill and provided enough for a meager existence. We also referred people to vocational rehabilitation services. Many of the people who came to us were people who were clearly emotionally ill, but Reagan's slashing of the services for these people caused them to become homeless. One woman I dealt with-St. Jane, believed she was in direct communication with God, urinated freely without using the facilities and she had 47 bags of trash which were prized possessions. She got welfare and was sent to a facility were she could survive. The rule was that our facility could be used 1 time only as we had too many people who thought that the services that we provided we would lift them from the dire straights that they were in. Well, we provided our services for St. Jane around Thanksgiving. On Christmas Eve she was back with her 47 bags of trash and wanted to stay at our facility. I informed my superior of this situation, but we declined to provide services for St. Jane. She slept in front of our facility in a snowstorm. The local rag took the picture and excoriated us for what we did. The local welfare department asked her where she would like to live. St. Jane said Chicago because she liked the wind. She knew on one there. She and her 47 bags of trash of were carted onto a train for the windy city and never of again. The local welfare department was glad to get shed of her. Social welfare in the mid-1980's was geared to blame the victim. Ill people were sent home from hospitals were no one was going to help them because social welfare budgets were slashed by Reagan. Bush 41's â"thousand points of lightâ" was just another way to shaft the weakest in our society. Bush 43's faith based initiative was just another attempt to reduce social welfare services. Reagan's â"Just say Noâ" was the pinnacle of hypocrisy. No services for those who desperately needed them under the guise of tough love.

Obviously I became burnt out by too much indifference regarding our weak and weary. I couldn't look at desperate people and could not get myself to say that what I could offer them wouldn't really help themâ"”it would only get them out of my office to be another person's problem, until the local welfare department carted them away.

I had little interest in politics until the illegal Iraq War started. Growing up in the 1960's caused me to understand that the GOP used war to attract right-wing extremists to vote for them. When â"Tricky Dick'sâ" secret plan to end the Vietnam War unfolded into elongating our presence there for 8 years I knew that I would never believe a GOP war-monger again. I dislike Obama's plan to escalate our presence in Afghanistan and see it as a craven attempt to placate the GOP. Maybe he'll reduce the GOP's attacks against him, but it will at the expense of alienating his base.