McClatchy: Will Bush officials face war crimes trials? Few expect it

[babylonsister]

Will Bush officials face war crimes trials? Few expect it

By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — Emboldened by a Democratic win of the White House, civil libertarians and human rights groups want the incoming Obama administration to investigate whether the Bush administration committed war crimes. They don't just want low-level CIA interrogators, either. They want President George W. Bush on down.

In the past eight years, administration critics have demanded that top officials be held accountable for a host of expansive assertions of executive powers from eavesdropping without warrants to detaining suspected enemy combatants indefinitely at the Guantanamo Bay military prison. A recent bipartisan Senate report on how Bush policies led to the abuse of detainees has fueled calls for a criminal investigation.

But even some who believe top officials broke the law don't favor criminal prosecutions. The charges would be too difficult legally and politically to succeed.

Without wider support, the campaign to haul top administration officials before an American court is likely to stall.

In the end, Bush administration critics might have more success by digging out the truth about what happened and who was responsible, rather than assigning criminal liability, and letting the court of public opinion issue the verdicts, many say.

"It is mind boggling to say eight years later that there is not going to be some sort of criminal accountability for what happened," said David Glazier, a law of war expert at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a retired naval officer. "It certainly undermines our moral authority and our ability to criticize other countries for doing exactly the same thing. But given the legal issues and the political reality, I am hard pressed to see any other outcome."

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/58210.html

[navarth]

1. time will tell on that

if we end up with an ever-increasing mountain of evidence AND public sentiment....well maybe. just maybe.

[babylonsister]

2. That's what I'm counting on, too. Levin gave me a bit of hope the

other night on Rachel's show. We'll see.