Protecting Their Own

Trey Smith

Near the end of August, the Obama administration did something that was a foregone conclusion. In an announcement by US Attorney General Eric Holder, the ONLY two cases of torture that transpired during the Bush years that the Justice Department had chosen to investigate were closed without ANY charges being filed. It was bad enough that among a myriad of documented instances of torture that Holder's unit only decided to investigate two of them, but not to prosecute a one of them? That defies all credulity!

As usual, Glenn Greenwald provides a superb documentation of the vast injustice that took place. And why was Barack Obama so insistent on shielding the wrongdoings of his predecessor? Greenwald writes that, "Obama is motivated to shield Bush officials from accountability for their crimes in the hope that once Obama leaves office, he, too, will be gifted identical immunity from the rule of law."

This is a very important point. Just like Dubya, Barack Obama has done many things that don't jibe with US law and our hallowed Constitution. He unilaterally committed the US to a war (Libya) without Congressional approval. He has created a "kill list" which deprives US citizens of due process. Both of these actions -- and these represent only the tip of the iceberg -- could well be subject to investigation and prosecution once he leaves office.

By shielding the potential criminals of the previous administration, it is his expectation that his act of "benevolence" will protect him as well (vested self-interest). In a sort of wink, wink agreement between the supposedly adversarial mainstream political parties, major crimes -- some against humanity -- are swept under the rug so that future such crimes will receive the same treatment.

If Bush officials can get away with heinous forms of torture and Obama can get away with creating "kill lists" that include US citizens, it should make each one of us shudder at what future presidents will be allowed to get away with!!