Why President Obama? Why are the planners of this torture getting a free pass, when....

[HardWorkingDem]

I understand how many here want to see all those that tortured or mistreated prisoners get what they deserve, but what I want to know is why do the attorneys, planners and higher ups who planned all this shit getting the free pass, when the small underlings who did relatively less things getting the majority of the punishment?

And this is what disgusts me about all of this - that the evil fuckers who developed all this shit and pushed all this shit are being told they are not going to be in jeopardy.

(And don't get me wrong - I'm not defending the soldiers that murdered, sodomized or seriously injured people. I'm talking about the easily manipulated, ignorant soldiers that did minor things).

[leftofthedial]

1. because obama cares so deeply about the security of the troops,

he wants to ensure that only low-level troops are held accountable for the crimes of the bush cabal.

See? It all makes sense, provided the second word of the title so bewitches you that you are deprived of reason.

[Occam Bandage]

3. I think you're conflating three different issues.

These photographs are not related to the investigation of Yoo et al. which is not related to punishment of low-level soldiers.

I do agree that the word "Obama" does deprive some people of reason, though. You hit it on the nail there. And helpfully provided the nail, to boot.

[Occam Bandage]

2. What makes you believe they are?

I may be totally out of the loop here, but I don't recall Obama saying there would be no punishment for the attorneys who justified waterboarding. I also don't understand the complaint that the "small underlings" would get punished; there was a great deal of anger here when Obama announced that he wouldn't be going after CIA agents who relied on the DOJ's reports in good faith.

[onetwo]

4. What? My understanding (at least in the CIA's case) was that it was the other way around...

I believe Obama was explicit in his lack of desire to go for people who in good faith followed the orders and recommendations of the higher-ups. The debate is whether the conduct of those higher-ups was criminal.

[vaberella]

5. I don't know where you get your information. n/t

[Occam Bandage]

6. I would venture to guess

this type of thread is the result of a process analogous to a child's game of Telephone, in which the original situation has been corrupted through so many retellings that the final perception is only vaguely recognizable as the original situation.

[HardWorkingDem]

7. BS....

Obama's comments were just on the re-airing of Olbermann's show where Olbermann pointed out that Obama has apparently fallen back on the "small group" of people argument.

VIDEO was shown of Obama stating that he believes the appropriate people have been appropriately dealt with. On top of that, I have seen video with my own eyes where Obama has made comments that he does not want to look backward and does not want to punish those who were following orders.

So I guess my eyes are lying.