You're not going to believe this argument

[ProSense]

Why President Obama Should Consider Pardoning those Who Designed, Authorized, and Carried Out the Bush Policy of Abusing Detainees

<...>

By pardoning, rather than merely not prosecuting, the architects of and participants in the Bush policy of detainee abuse, the Obama Administration could send a signal that offenses were, in fact, committed. Of course, pardons will not satisfy those who believe--with considerable justification--that prosecutions would be the better course. But pardons would formalize what appears to be the best explanation for the potential Obama policy of simultaneously repudiating the conduct and seeking to reconcile the country.

[Renew Deal]

1. This brings up an argument from January 19.

Why didn't Bush pardon these people?

1. It would have been an acknowledgment that a crime was committed.
2. It would have forced the pardoned to testify truthfully.
3. They never thought Obama would pursue it.

[ProSense]

9. Interesting. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

2. Whut?

I love this paragraph:

"Still, much of the publicity itself has been harmful to the careers of some of the Bush lawyers. Alberto Gonzales has had difficulty finding a job, a truly remarkable predicament for a former U.S. Attorney General, even in a severe recession. John Yoo finds himself a virtual pariah in legal academia. Judge Jay Bybee hears repeated calls for his impeachment. And none of the Bush officials involved in detainee abuse is likely to use his passport again."

Yes, I'm crying in my towel because these men have their reputations ruined. Oh, the humanity. :banghead:

Dorf teaches. This scares me.

[ProSense]

10. Yeah, poor

war criminals.

They should be employed breaking rocks behind bars.

[babylonsister]

3. MICHAEL C. DORF from Findlaw? Isn't that where John Dean

works/blogs? I bet he doesn't agree.

[WeDidIt]

4. There's a problem with that whole line of reasoning

IF Obama pardons them, they are still culpable under international law.

Plus you have to consider that the act of pardoning them uunder US law makes Obama culpable under international law.

[Hellataz]

5. So why don't we send them all to jail and after 8 years at the end of Obama's term he pardons them?

I think that's fair.

[Overseas]

6. Yeah, that worked so well with the Iran Contra folks !

They just slipped back in to positions of authority in the Bush Administration, one after the other.

Pardoning their war crimes certainly curbed the Bush Gang's activities. :sarcasm:

[Aloha Spirit]

7. I can't believe we even need to reconcile the anti-torture and pro-torture camps. McCain

ought to shame his party into doing the right thing.

[Hutzpa]

8. Thanks..

for posting, this has helped open a window into an area that would have gone un notice,
now we know where their idea of torture came from, it came from this douchebag of a
professor.