Why the New Torture Defense Fails

[ProSense]

Why the New Torture Defense Fails

The Nation: Public Awareness Of Government Misconduct Is Being Used To Justify Placing Government Officials Above The Law

Jacob Weisberg, the talented journalist, editor and opinion leader, floats a very dangerous idea in the new issue of Newsweek.

Weisberg argues that because illegal torture was essentially America's official policy after 9/11, operating with complicity from the general public, it would be wrong to enforce US laws against torture now.

This argument basically morphs the infamous Nixon standard into a referendum--if the public supports something, then it is not illegal.

Does that sound too crazy to be a serious proposal? Here is the core premise of Weisberg's column,"Our Tacit Approval of Torture:"

...waterboarding was ordered and served up in secret. But it, too, was America's policy--not just Dick Cheney's. Congress was informed about what was happening and raised no objection. The public knew, too. By 2003, if you didn't understand that the United States was inflicting torture upon those deemed enemy combatants, you weren't paying much attention. This is part of what makes applying a criminal-justice model to those most directly responsible such a bad idea. (emphasis added)

In this lawless paradigm, public awareness of government misconduct is cited as a justification for placing government officials above the law. Weisberg rules out the "criminal justice model"--you know, those laws that govern the rest of us--because some segment of the public "knew" about government torture in 2003. "Well before the nation reelected George W. Bush in 2004," the article states, "investigative reporters had unearthed the salient aspects of his torture policy."

This argument makes no sense. Elections do not cancel our laws. All kinds of politicians, from the charismatic to the corrupt, can get re-elected after being exposed for crimes or misconduct. Yet public sentiment should not bully an independent, apolitical Justice Department from enforcing the laws equally, regardless of the power or popularity of alleged criminals. The public disclosures about President Bush's "torture policy," to use Weisberg's taxonomy, simply have no bearing on the legal question of who knowingly broke the law. Torture is illegal, as even Bush officials concede, and the Justice Department has a duty to investigate and prosecute crimes.

more

[Cha]

1. I'm glad Ari Melber is

responding so well to this latest "don't prosecute the torturers defense".

THere were so many who signed on to "Not In My Name" and I was one of them.

[rasputin1952]

2. I was too...

:hi:

[Political Heretic]

3. It works perfectly fine as long as no one fucking prosecutes.

Which looks more likely each and every day.

[sellitman]

4. Bingo!

Exactly!

[Clio the Leo]

5. I think the problem is not so much that "The American People knew..."

as it is "higher ups in the Democratic party knew."

I like Pelosi, but I didn't buy her explanation at all. If you start prosecuting those in the GOP who knew about it, where do you stop? Now, that's fine if you want to do that, but I think that just futher shows what a big mess this whole thing is and why the President isnt' going after Cheney et al with guns blazing (if he could.)

[Senator]

6. Weisberg/Kinsley/Klein -- The Blame Americans First Crowd

The only thing the public/electorate knew was the DC-Dems were not standing up against all this.

Impeachophia has consequences.

--

[Supersedeas]

7. didn't Hitler have public support from the German public & the Japanese provide public support to

their own....and yet the leadership was held accountable for war crimes.

[lunatica]

8. My voiced disapproval was ignored

I tacitly and actively disapproved. I wrote letters to Congresspeople, to bloggers and to journalists beginning with the illegal and un-Constitutional selection of George Bush for President. I stepped it up and even contributed to hundreds of posts to online forums (like DU) and I was ignored by my government. I marched in protest of Bush's war starting in October of 2002 when they started their propaganda 'roll out' of the war against Iraq. There were tens of thousands of people who did the same thing in San Francisco (and in many other cities and countries) and the media just ignored us. I went to all the subsequent demonstrations and Bush dismissed us as just being 'a focus group'.

So, no. I didn't just stand by and tacitly approve.