Reply #32: And all that "ass kicking" is undermined by his duplicity on torture

[pat_k]

Obama's refusal to demand the prosecution and punishment of government officials who proudly ordered Americans to torture is a violation of core and inviolable American principles. As long as he continues to protect the torturers from prosecution he makes himself an accomplice, and ensures that the USA remains a War Criminal Nation.

And pointing out this stark truth does not make one an "Obama-hater." Is it "tough love."

Those who commit crimes can't destroy us -- we designed our government to deal with criminals, however high their office. Only the corruption and dereliction of those we charge with enforcement can take us down. Bush and Cheney committed war crimes, but they didn't turn the USA into a War Criminal Nation. Pelosi and those who tolerated and tacitly endorsed torture by refusing to demand impeachment did that.

Right now, the battle for the soul of the nation is not between people who label themselves "liberal" or "conservative." It's between those who tolerate the harboring of torturers and those who refuse to; those who are willing to continue as a War Criminal Nation and those who are not; and those government officials who are acting in accord with their oath of office and those who aren't.

With our foundation in ruins, anything our so-called "progressive leaders" manage to build will be as lasting as a castle built on quicksand. There can be no real progress toward "a more perfect union" until we confront the truth, admit that the failure to impeach was monumental failure that can never be erased, and must never be repeated, and Finally Do what duty demands and prosecute Bush, Cheney, and their co-conspirators.