John Nichols: It is time to apply the rule of law to Dick Cheney - long MUST READ

[malaise]

http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-it-is-time-to-apply-the-rule-of/article_264047fb-afdb-5e44-8bed-6abd5a96c228.html
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Arizona Sen. John McCain, who during his time as a prisoner of war came to know something about the abuse of incarcerated combatants, provided the soundest assessment of the revelation that the United States abandoned its values and international standards in order to permit practices that the world knows as torture.

McCain's calculation raises a question: If the United States has given up too much moral territory, what might be done now to regain the high ground? Surely, President Obama's curtailing of the worst practices was a start, as are the protocols that have been developed to guard against future abuses.

Of course, the Obama White House will be resistant to an inquiry that goes to the top of the previous administration. Sitting executives, especially as they near the end of their tenure, are notably unenthusiastic about holding preceding executives to account.

But this is about much more than personalities and politics. This is about a principle that has been, and must remain, at the very center of the American experiment. No individual is above the law. Not even the president of the United States. And certainly not Dick Cheney.

[snappyturtle]

1. Excellent read...thanks malaise.

I bet the letter to Holder urging the appointment of a special proscecutor has been filed....in the
round file.

[99th_Monkey]

2. BIG K&R!! I'm there. nt

[StevePaulson]

3. Torture Is A Crime

But since we live in a banana republic, no one dares prosecute the criminals that ordered it. Jails are for poor people. Not rich and powerful criminals. And to think they impeached Clinton for not telling the truth about a bj....

Sorry folks. This is one f-ed up country.

[forest444]

4. The sad truth is, it'll never happen.

In our post-Patriot Act America, need I remind, Dick Cheney practically is the law.

[rhett o rick]

5. The quetion that no one seems to want to discuss is "Is the president protecting the criminals

because he sympathizes with what they did or maybe he hasn't the power from the Oligarchy Deep State.

The question is, why won't President Obama prosecute the crinimals or at the very least condemn them?

[wildbilln864]

6. k & r & thanks! n/t

[JEB]

7. K&R