If people know that they can get away with something, they WILL do it again

[phantom power]

Greenwald has said almost everything that needs to be said about the decision to not prosecute anybody for torture, from the lowliest order-follower to the highest order-giver, even for incidents where people died.

I just want to add a few points:

1) If we want to momentarily pretend that we were all born yesterday, I suppose that one could argue that there are just so many ambiguities in the law and it’s all terribly complicated and everybody was acting in good faith. That isn’t true, but let’s momentarily pretend that it’s true. In that case, the only way to even attempt to justify a decision not to prosecute is if that decision is followed by an immediate press conference at which the President says “Our laws have been inadequate. Horrible things were done that must not be done again. I call for Congress to immediately enact legislation that closes the gaps that the Attorney General identified in our current set of laws.”

Have you seen such a press conference? I haven’t.

2) The one thing that this decision guarantees is that it will happen again. If people know that they can get away with something, they WILL do it again. For all we know, it’s happening right now. When the only people going to jail are the whistleblowers, how much confidence can you have in the system?

And, in fact, we do know that torture in some form has happened under Obama. If nothing else, we know that Bradley Manning was tortured, being kept naked and in an isolation cell with “suicide prevention” restrictions that also limited his sleep. If you don’t think that’s torture, go talk to John McCain.

http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2012/09/02/15050

[Cleita]

1. Which is why Bush/Cheney should have been investigated and prosecuted for

war crimes. One of the reasons we have this wholesale attempt by the Right to establish oligarchy and replace our democracy is because they got away with it and payed no consequences for their illegal actions on so many levels.

[sandyshoes17]

2. I have always said this

They have let these people go too many times for too long. I wouldn't trust them, they will turn around and charge Obama with war crimes and not think twice about it. That's the way they are, things should not be tolerated from our Representitives in gov. They should be held accountable for every, that would at least make them think before they do it. But they get away with it so just keep pushing for more.

[frazzled]

3. I've got news for you

It'll be done again even if people ARE punished.

I thought we had debunked the idea that, say, capital punishment is a deterrent to future crimes. Bad people are going to do bad things, even if no one is prosecuted. That's not an argument for not prosecuting them. But it is an argument against the idea that if we prosecute them, there will be no more torture in the future.