Panetta: No prosecution for CIA interrogators

[notadmblnd]

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will not prosecute CIA officers who participated in harsh interrogations that critics say crossed the line into torture, CIA Director-nominee Leon Panetta said Friday.

Asked by The Associated Press if that was official policy, Panetta said, "That is the case."

It was the clearest statement yet on what Panetta and other Democratic officials had only strongly suggested: CIA officers who acted on legal orders from the Bush administration would not be held responsible for those policies. On Thursday, he told senators that the Obama administration had no intention of seeking prosecutions for that reason.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_go_co/cia_panetta

[Wildewolfe]

1. Immunize them from prosecution

So they can't take the 5th about who gave them their orders. First step to going UP the chain for change rather than down.

[gratuitous]

4. I'll believe that when I see it

I'll bet a $5 donation to DU that this is the end of it. No prosecutions, not even an investigation. All swept under the rug and not even the courtesy of a reacharound. Then, when someone else decides to exact a little revenge for our torturing ways, we can all wonder why "they" hate us for our freedoms, have a bracing round of flag-waving, and go off and do it all again to some poor, powerless country.

Five bucks says it will be so.

[Poll_Blind]

2. I think this is a good sign- because they've got much bigger fish to fry.

And fry is what I'd like to see some of those big fish do!

PB

[librechik]

3. Yes! It looks like they might!

signed

Pollyanna

[EFerrari]

5. If those interrogators tortured prisoners, it's the administration's legal obligation to prosecute.

[Winterblues]

6. Let bygones be bygones I guess until another Republican takes over again

Then it is more torture and more criminal activity because there is zero incentive for them to obey the Laws. Laws only apply to the common folk and not to the elected elite....This is the worst decision Obama could possibly make. Give the criminals a complete pass because he doesn't want to make waves.. Sickening..

[Stinky The Clown]

7. This tears my in half ......

.... if we can immunize them and get Cheenee and Rumsfeld or Gonzo and Yoo and the rest of those reptiles, I am all for it.

How is an order to break the law ever legal? Can someone rob a bank because the guy they work for says they must?

[jody]

8. The more things CHANGE, the more they stay the same. n/t

[derby378]

9. Uh, hello? Nuremburg Trials ring a bell?

:mad:

[Lance_Boyle]

10. OK, an order to do something illegal is never a legal order.

Military members are trained in this. I'd be surprised if CIA goons are not trained similarly. "Just following orders" has not been a viable defense since Nuremberg.

If you're ordered to break the law, the order ain't a legal one. Simple enough.

[KoKo]

11. I thought Blackwater and other Private Contractors did the actual Interrogations?

If that's the case then there would be few CIA prosecutions. So, Panetta would be correct in saying that. :shrug: