Leahy Pledges To Investigate Bushco: ‘Torture will be a major issue-All that’s going to be reviewed’

[kpete]

Leahy: ‘Torture will be a major issue’; ‘All that’s going to be reviewed.'

During a press conference today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed President-elect Obama’s vow to end torture and pledged to continue investigating the Bush administration’s torture policies. “All that is going to be reviewed,” he said:

Q: Do you think Congress should continue to seek a final reckoning of what happened behind the White House orchestration of the firings of the U.S. attorneys and also the adoption of the policies of torture?

LEAHY: Personally I would like to know exactly what happened because — more of a past is prologue kind of thing. I would like to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Torture is going to be a major issue. … And so all that’s going to be reviewed.

VIDEO & MORE:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/01/leahy-torture-investigations/

[bdamomma]

1. yea, I bet it will take about 8 years or longer to determine that.

Congress better get with it.

[amdezurik]

2. it is my feeling that no matter how many hearings

or commitee's are formed and no matter the tonnage of paper they generate if at least one of the Rove/Cheney/Bush cabal do not serve time or are punished in some way it will be seen as blessing their actions by the rest of the world. And the world would not be all that wrong...

[cali]

4. it starts with investigations.

and you should be glad that Leahy is pursuing this.

[hootinholler]

9. I am glad, I just want it to go to a Grand Jury as well. n/t

[wryter2000]

14. I'm glad

IMHO, the emphasis on what Obama's going to do about investigating torture is somewhat misplaced. I think it's really Congress's function. If Obama's justice department enforces subpenas, Congress can do its job,

[cali]

3. k&r will this post get any attention from

those who perpetually complain that no in Congress cares about investigating the bushco crimes?

I know Leahy will pursue this. And I'm so looking forward to it.

[Sebass1271]

6. This topic should not be of interest to any DUers.. really...

why pursue any legal law or indictment against anyone or anybody in government or put any government official in jail for illegally torturing a prisoner or political prisoner?.. To most of DUers, it is ok for the Cuban government to torture its political prisoners, so why not allow it here?

Right?

[gratuitous]

5. Reviewed, that's very nice

And if evidence of wrongdoing is uncovered? Can we look forward to Justice Department referrals for prosecution? Because if we don’t hold our criminals accountable for international crimes, someone else just might. And some of the folks might just take the law into their own hands, without resort or regard to such niceties as due process, rules of procedure and evidence, and so forth. They’ll just kill themselves some Americans without a whole lot of discrimination between the guilty and the relatively innocent.

I sure hope Mr. Leahy is serious about this, and I hope the Republicans (for once) put people’s lives and the principles of law ahead of their own short-term political concerns.

[malaise]

7. Yessssssssssssssssssssss!

K & R

[Voice for Peace]

8. agree such investigations are an essential beginning

k/r

:fistbump:

[spanone]

10. k&r

[L. Coyote]

11. Leahy to pursue Justice firings. And the former Judiciary chair will be the V-P!

That pick had to send a worrisome signal to Bush Junta criminals. Also this:

==============================
Leahy to pursue Justice firings
Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - November 20, 2008 - http://www.timesargus.com/article/20081120/NEWS01/81120...


Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the head of the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee, said that despite the impending change in presidential administrations, he will pursue his inquiry into political influence in the U.S. Department of Justice under President George Bush.

Leahy said it was "encouraging" that the U.S. Department of Justice has said it will provide some of the information about the allegedly politically motivated firings in 2006 of nine U.S. attorneys.

And if President-elect Barack Obama's administration releases some of the information his committee has sought, he will not have to pursue that material through congressional means, Leahy said.

"I won't have to if the administration just turns a lot of it over and makes it available," he said.

Leahy wants to know what influence members of the White House – including Karl Rove – had on the firings of the prosecutors. The firings led to several investigations and were followed by the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"My ultimate goal is to find out what they did … where law enforcement was manipulated," Leahy said of any potential White House influence in the firings. ...............

[jtrockville]

12. An "Issue"??? Torture is an ISSUE?

C'mon Leahy, call it what it is:

TORTURE IS A WAR CRIME.

[L. Coyote]

13. C-SPAN VIDEO of the press conference here:

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-13026