According to a recent CNN article, in the wake of the Bush administration, President Obama has said that the decision to prosecute former Bush officials for their involvement in torture will be left to the Attorney General.
I have an odd feeling that they won’t ever be prosecuted for torture, but I feel they should be. Most of the people involved are unrepentant and see nothing wrong with their decisions. Several former CIA officials have been quoted in saying that stopping these techniques is a poor idea, and they letting people know that we were doing them is an even worse idea.
We put people in jail, not just as a form of punishment, but to remove dangerous people from society. Torture is clearly unconsitutional, as is the detaining of people in Gitmo. The people involved lacked the clarity of judgment and morals to see that torture is clearly wrong. Just as a murderer who doesn’t see what was wrong with his crime should be put away, so should anyone involved in torture. I don’t buy the Nuremberg trial line of, “I was just following orders.” If a person outranking you (in any field) tells you to do something wrong, then you shouldn’t do it.
Torture is wrong. What they did was wrong, and everyone along the line should be held accountable for their poor judgment, poor morals and a clear lack of understanding of the Constitution.
