WHAT ABOUT THE LAW, Mr. President?

[wowimthere]

Lawyers and Specialists who were the architects of the torture policy should not be able to get away with this! You must hold people who think that this it is okay to be a nation of barbarians accountable! WE ARE NOT BARBARIANS! WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT!

MR. PRESIDENT... I stand by you but on this you must do what is right. Everyone is looking at you. Everyone is listening to you. Everyone is following you. Do you not think that people will follow you if you UPHOLD THE RULE OF LAW and the CONSTITUTION? This is not petty. This is very important. The push back will be fierce if you brush this off as a legal argument that can be cordoned off by both wings of the political party.

War is not an excuse for usurping the Geneva accord! It makes us less safe. And if going into Iraq on bogus reasoning wasn't enough, we have these dumb CON-Artists trying to rewrite history, blowing more waste into the air to sway public opinion. I understand that people can have an array of views on torture but even the previous president said it, "We Don't Torture". He wasn't true to many of the things he said. And we all know that.

Please, Mr. President, don't you go down the same path. Honor the men and women who fought for this country's way of life. To be a good leader you must do what's right so that other countries, small and large will follow our example on this. If we give these authors a free pass, what will it show us... as a civilized nation? What will it show the rest of the world? Torture does not work! The last administration got us into a world of trouble because they believed we should be cowboys from the 1860s. This is 2009. This shows you how wrong they were... on EVERYTHING!

DO NOT LET THESE PEOPLE GET AWAY WITH THESE ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES...

Understand that your presidency will lay the foundation for how things should be done in our government for generations to come. If you say torture is illegal then stand by that and do something about it. Assign a special prosecutor if you have to. If you do nothing, Mr. President, people will believe that in matters of war and peace any government official is above the law.

Mr. President no one is above the law.

[DrDan]

1. tedious details . . .

[Occam Bandage]

2. I assume you haven't read, watched, or otherwise ingested the news today. nt

[wowimthere]

5. think he hasn't waffled?

[Occam Bandage]

6. Regarding what? nt

[Adelante]

3. You're a tad behind on the news - and the outrage fails nt

[wowimthere]

4. I heard the news today... He is still a politician. I'm holding his feet to the fire.

That's our job. To make sure he does what he supposed to.

[FrenchieCat]

7. Perhaps you should take your IRE out on the Media.....

As they are the ones who will try to fuck this all up.

Not knowing who the enemy truly is shows a certain level of stupidity!

[vaberella]

8. Is this sarcasm?! WTH is this?! Huh?! Dare I say....Unhinged?! n/t

[zulchzulu]

9. Take a Civics class at your local community college

They will probably mention this thing called the Justice Department.

Look at the building with all the people! Open the door and see them doing legal stuff. Oh wait! Lookee!! Lookee! The President just asked them to investigate the Bush torture records!

Look at the people. They look so busy!

Forget the class. Take off your Captain Obvious suit. It looks a little tight.

[wowimthere]

10. Don't be offended. For all of you who don't know it... The buck still stops with the president

Justice department. Economy. National Security. Some of you... stop thinking you're in the president's inner circle. I have a right to speak. I support this president but I have the right to speak to make sure his people do the right thing.

[FrenchieCat]

11. And so you did.....and then you heard from some of us.

That's how it works, right?

[wowimthere]

12. And then you heard from me again... Everything is fair game... media too...

some people here. It's fair. I've written many of posts that were positive... But look at how many people in the president's inner circle walked the torture argument back and now forward.

[FrenchieCat]

13. I was just responding to your "I have a right to speak" statement...

as you said as though someone was disagreeing with you on that.

and yes, the beauty is that we all have that right.....
not just you.

[wowimthere]

14. You see... I think everyone should have a say so but I'm not going to denigrate someone

because they have a different opinion. I may politely disagree but I'm not going to say that people don't have a brain because they disagree.

The president should have made it clear from the beginning. He said Torture is wrong. His staff came out and said no prosecutions for some. Now Obama is saying some may be held accountable. Until things in this area start happening, I, like others will speak up about this. I like my President. I voted for my president. I will vote for him again. I'm glad we have this president but that doesn't mean I have to like EVERYTHING he does. It is not clear to many what his department will do on this.

If he says we shouldn't hold the interrogators responsible then I'm going to give him some leeway. If he starts waffling, and more important, if his staff starts waffling on prosecuting the architects, he's going to hear from many... including me.

Nothing is set in stone. And he wants to hear from us.