'It's A Puzzlement... ' Great Post On TPM Re: WH Security vs. Transparency...

[WillyT]

Plebty of hyper links in origianl piece.

It's a puzzlement . . .
February 22, 2009, 10:55AM

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Today's post attempts to assesses the level of President Obama's apparent commitment to transparency, accountability for Bush administration officials who may have committed crimes, and adhering to the rule of law. At this point the real truth is still puzzling. Many of us agree that Salon's Glenn Greenwald is absolutely the best on the subject. And today (2/22/09) he does not disappoint with this searing essay, "Binyam Mohamed, war crimes investigations, and American exceptionalism." To quote:

It cannot be emphasized enough that those who are arguing against criminal investigations for Bush officials are -- whether consciously or implicitly -- arguing that the U.S., alone in the world, is exempt from the laws and principles which we've been advocating and imposing on other countries for decades. There is simply no way to argue that our leaders should be immunized from criminal investigations for torture and other war crimes without believing that (a) the U.S. is and should be immune from the principles we've long demanded other nations obey and (b) we are free to ignore our treaty obligations any time it suits us.

Open to examination -- ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization also has an excellent overview of these issues: "Obama Pauses on Changes to Terror Policies," by Christopher Weaver, 2/18/09, and an earlier article on the missing memos on 2/12/09. Still open are policies like extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention, state secrets, CIA interrogation techniques, secret legal memos. The article concludes,

With some human rights advocates charging that Obama is risking a "Bush redux," current administration officials emphasized to the Times that the policies are still under review and that dramatic changes need to be balanced with national security interests.

"The president is very sympathetic to those who want to find out what happened," Gregory Craig, the top White House lawyer told the Times, referring to a court case the former administration buried. "But he is also mindful as president of the United States not to do anything that would undermine or weaken the institution of the presidency."

Torture memos and legal ethics -- Mcjoan at Daily Kos describes the potential disclosure and sanction process as "Inching toward the truth," with the potential of big trouble for former lawyers in the Bush administration. The matter of the Office of Public Responsibility report is now under review by Attorney General Eric Holder. And the Senate Judiciary Committee is primed to investigate, and a lot of infromation is emerging already. A Michael Isikoff story in Newsweek is cited.

Karl Rove's testimony -- House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) has subpoenaed Rove to appear for a Feb. 23 deposition on the politicization of the Bush Justice Department, according to CQ Politics (2/13/09). Politico reports that a federal appeals court has yet to agree to give the president until March 4 to decide whether to fight a judge's ruling that Bush could not use executive privilege to shield his aids from testifying before Congress. Negotiations continue.

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More: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/carol_g...

[WillyT]

1. Kick !!!