Another WAPO columnist asks not to prosecute the torturers (Richard Cohen, 1-27-09)

[nodramamama]

Richard Cohen's column set to be printed tomorrow is already online: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601851_Comments.html

He joins David Ignatius and Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post's opinion page quest to pardon those who violated the Geneva Convention, because we were in a "September 11 mindset". Flood the comments section with your opinions. The pressure must be building up judging by the establishment's insistence in calling for a whitewash.

Excerpt:

"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there." So goes an aphorism that needs to be applied to the current debate over whether those who authorized and used torture should be prosecuted. In the very different country called Sept. 11, 2001, the answer would be a resounding no.

Back then, a Post poll gave George W. Bush an approval rating of 92 percent, which meant that almost no one thought he was on the wrong course. At the same time, questions about the viability of torture were very much in the air. Alan Dershowitz was suggesting the creation of torture warrants -- permission from a court to, in effect, break some bone

<...>

At the same time, we have to be respectful of those who were in that Sept. 11 frame of mind, who thought they were saving lives -- and maybe were -- and who, in any case, were doing what the nation and its leaders wanted. It is imperative that our intelligence agents not have to fear that a sincere effort will result in their being hauled before some congressional committee or a grand jury. We want the finest people in these jobs -- not time-stampers who take no chances.

The best suggestion for how to proceed comes from David Cole of Georgetown Law School. Writing in the Jan. 15 New York Review of Books, he proposed that either the president or Congress appoint a blue-ribbon commission, arm it with subpoena power, and turn it loose to find out what went wrong, what (if anything) went right and to report not only to Congress but to us. We were the ones, remember, who just wanted to be kept safe. So, it is important, as well as fair, not to punish those who did what we wanted done -- back when we lived, scared to death, in a place called the Pas

[lostnotforgotten]

1. To Hell With This Sentiment - Prosecute Now - Convict Now - Punish Now!

eom

[Bolo Boffin]

2. "I'm sorry I killed my wife and her lover -- I was in a post finding-out-about-the-affair mindset."

:eyes: