Lanny Davis: Indict Dick Cheney For Torture
Lanny Davis is hardly a left-wing vengeance-seeking Bush-hater. He’s a classic Washington establishment inside player who disparages left-wing ideologues and sings paeans to bipartisanship that would make David Broder weep with joy.
So it’s a bit surprising to hear this from him:
I have written many times in this space that I oppose any criminal prosecution of prior-administration officials on torture or other issues relating to the Iraq War and the war on terrorism, especially those CIA interrogators who relied in good faith on the instructions of policymakers and the legal opinions issued by Justice Department senior officials.
I have agreed with President Obama on the need to look forward, not backward.
But … I have changed my mind about the need to indict former Vice President Dick Cheney for complicity in illegal torture.…
His insistence on putting himself on multiple TV programs and conservative radio talk shows, not only defending torture but offering the defense that it worked, has changed my mind. Not only that — he went on to attack Mr. Obama as weakening the United States in the war on terrorism because Mr. Obama immediately announced that torture would no longer be allowed.
Dem’s fighting words. They are also, in my view, reckless and irresponsible. They seem to be laying down a marker that in case, God forbid, there is a terrorist attack, Mr. Cheney can be the first to blame it on Mr. Obama’s policies and say, “I told you so.”
Even more, they seem to be an in-your-face dare by Mr. Cheney to the U.S. criminal justice system: “I am Dick Cheney, I approved violations of the law in the name of the war on terror, and what are you going to do about it?”…
So as to Mr. Cheney: I think it is time to take him up on his implicit dare and indict him for violating the 1994 federal law against torture.
The rest is here.
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lanny has hardly been a flamethrower for the last 8 years. he
went to school with george bush and liked him. so this is truly
remarkable turn of events.
good to remember that torture is a crime. a war crime.
I’d forgotten that, Bill — it’s important context. thx
So Lanny makes Cheney out to be . . . Harry Callahan? “Go ahead, make my day.” Do you feel lucky, Lanny? “Well, do ya punk?”
So long as we seem “into” long excerpts from opinion pieces, how about Victoria Toensing’s piece in the WSJ?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124243020964825531.html
I think David Broder would take great exception to your statement Greg. lol
sbj — I’d say this is a bit more counterintuitive than the opinion piece you are flagging…
The proverbial tipping point?
.
Gosh, I hope so!
Another nail in the coffin
.
The CIA has responded to Obey
.
http://washingtonindependent.com/43615/cia-responds-to-obey-briefing-accounts-are-not-transcripts-and-recordings
.
.
Isn’t that pretty much an admission that they don’ really know for sure what happened back then?
Well if it’s counterintuitive you’re after then check out Jack Goldsmith at The New Republic (via Volokh):
“But there is a different problem with Cheney’s criticisms: his premise that the Obama administration has reversed Bush-era policies is largely wrong. The truth is closer to the opposite: The new administration has copied most of the Bush program, has expanded some of it, and has narrowed only a bit . . . the former vice president is wrong to say that the new president is dismantling the Bush approach to terrorism. President Obama has not changed much of substance from the late Bush practices, and the changes he has made . . . are designed to fortify the bulk of the Bush program for the long-run.”
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_05_17-2009_05_23.shtml#1242750091
I happen to agree that Cheney is probably culpable. I also agree that, as a political matter, Cheney’s behavior undercuts the spin that former officals should not be prosecuted under some unwritten understanding of the Beltway because another unwritten understanding of the Beltway is that former vice presidents are supposed to keep quiet.
But then, I never subscibed to that phony understanding about Too Big to Prosecute in the first place. Davis’ original error was arguing for it at all. Now it sounds too much like he wants to prosecute Cheney because the former VP is making waves.
Better just to follow the law and the facts wherever they lead — within the Justice Department and preferably within a special counsel’s office — and leave politicos like Davis out of the loop.
in the mad MSM rush to brand nancy pelosi a liar, it is a useful
reminder that eyewitness accounts often differ as people take
away different bits and pieces of meetings conversations and
events, and people misremember all the time. this does not make
them liars. the human mind is a fallible instrument. however, as
greg noted, bob graham is invaluable to the inquiry because he
documents every waking moment of every day. and his account
supports pelosi. the CIA response to Rep. Obey underscores the
point.
I hardly trust anything Lanny Davis has to say. He has been such a Republican apologist for so long–in the guise of a Dem–that I just have to believe that he is up to something. Prove me wrong, Lanny. Step up the the mike, use your connections, go on the airwaves and not only on some relatively obscure blog and make some waves. Make me trust you.
Wo die Suchmaschine mich den lieben Tag hinfuehrt
Gute Homepage, ich werde nochmals vorbeischauen.
Thanks for this..awesome post