Holder's "investigation" is the equivalent of pissing on a forest fire.

[Atticus]

They are not going to investigate "torture" as it was previously defined by the United States, the UN or any civilized nation.

They are not investigating "torture" as Ronnie Reagan defined it.

They are investigating whether or not some lower-echelon hands-on leg-breaker exceeded the limits of George W. Bush's bought-and-paid-for "new" definition of torture. You know: the one where even waterboarding---ALWAYS considered an illegal torture before hookers with law degrees redefined the term---became "legal".

Bush, Cheney and Rummy---the folks who REQUESTED the re-write of the definition of torture---they are NOT being investigated and are in no danger of being prosecuted as they so richly deserve.

John Yoo and the other morally challenged Heritage Foundation whores who actually REDEFINED torture so that waterboarding was suddenly "not torture" and the previous boundary between permissible and impermissible conduct was blurred so that a lot of procedures became "possibly" OK---are they being investigated? Well, of course not. They "just" dealt with paper and phone calls and books. They weren't close enough to the "action" to be splattered with the blood or the vomit or the shit their work allowed "our" people to extract from captives. Besides, some of them "know people" and prosecuting them could get messy.

So, no, we won't be looking into the conduct of anyone who wasn't actually in the room where the puking and crying and screaming and begging and bowel-emptying was taking place. And, they are "home free" if they simply followed the loosy-goosy hot-off-the- presses "Bush Torture Rules".

Are they drawing straws now to see who is going to be Lyndie England this time?

We can ignore this ridiculously transparent criminality.
We could continue to think up innocuous euphemisms for the more grisly techniques---"pressure points", etc.
And, yes, we can actually conduct a fews show trials of shadowy "contractors" and maybe even put a few of them away for a few years.

But, what we cannot do is any of the above AND continue to say that we are a "nation of laws".

[mulhollanddriven]

1. "Are they drawing straws on who gets to be Lynndie England"

That's EXACTLY what they are doing.

[madokie]

2. You reckon that maybe they have to start somewhere

and its best they don't start off making it look like a witch hunt. Hang on to your pixels as there will be much more come of this

-1

[Atticus]

4. Yup, they have to start somewhere.

But, the "somewhere" shouldn't be so carefully defined and restricted to insure that all avenues of the "investigation" end at carefully constructed firewalls.

[mullard12ax7]

13. How about with "Iraq on the Record", paid for with your money years ago?

http://oversight.house.gov/IraqOnTheRecord/

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Absolutely -

another bit of window-dressing.

Sounds pretty good at first, but suddenly you're watching the Wizard of Oz, the man behind the curtain.

Another disappointment from this new administration. Another ass-covering technique to keep us distracted while life goes on and nothing of any consequence gets done.

We are a nation of laws, but only for those who decide what the laws are. For you and me, well, we don't get to decide, so we have to watch our steps.

Nothing has changed.........................

[spanone]

5. it's a start...one thing leads to another...the slime trail is long and stinky....

[hedgehog]

6. I won't judge this until I see how it plays out. Sometimes you unravel

an entire sweater by tugging on one loose thread.

Americans will be upset if it looks like the people at the bottom are taking all the heat for something that went right up to the top.

It took a long time for Watergate to take Nixon down. Even then, some couldn't bear the thought of jailing an ex-President.

[emulatorloo]

7. Well here is a positive! It gives the Republicans something to lie about besides healthcare reform

GOP Senators: US Faces Terrorist Attack if Holder Probes Bush's Torture Program
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6383758&mesg_id=6383758

Obviously that nasty crowd is very threatened by this. They are scared about where it will go. They are right to be.

[Swede]

8. Watergate started with the investigation of a break-in.

NT

[Fumesucker]

10. Yes, and *everyone* is aware of that..

Which is why the "investigation" is so laser beam narrow in scope.

Can't have the prosecutor going off the reservation, wouldn't be prudent.

[katandmoon]

9. Bing-fucking-O!

[usregimechange]

11. I think it is a snowball at the top of a hill.

[mullard12ax7]

12. It looks like more "we're going to form a panel" type of waste

There's plenty of evidence and has been for years, not only evidence of torture but evidence of a conspiracy to commit and wage war as well.