SO much has happened in the last 72 hours I thought a special edition of the Dispatches was in order.
Obama to Release OLC Torture Memos; Promises No Prosecutions for CIA Officials (Glenn Greenwald) from Salon
Not surprisingly, a damning (and, I must say, persuasive) indictment of the Bush Administration's policies in light of the new memos. Very disturbing stuff fully recounted here.
"Obama did the right thing by releasing these memos, providing all the information and impetus the citizenry should need to demand investigations and prosecutions. But it is up to citizens to demand that the rule of law be applied"
Very interesting reading on the subject happening between Anderw Sullivan HERE and Marc Ambinder HERE at the Atlantic (and Glenn Greenwald over at Salon SEE ABOVE) concerning the Obama's interest in how this plays out and the general direction these memo disclosures seem to point towards. It sounds like there will be intense pressure on Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor.
Dealing with a Disgrace from the Editorial Board of the Washington Post
"THE OBAMA administration acted courageously and wisely yesterday with its dual actions on interrogation policy. The pair of decisions -- one essentially forgiving government agents who may have committed heinous acts they were told were legal, the other signaling that such acts must never again be condoned by the United States -- struck exactly the right balance."
A GENERAL NOTE:
The timing of recent events seems to me to be quite interesting. Early in the week the Spanish court made all kinds of noise about pursuing the Bush Six, even talking about extradition, ... but then backed off yesterday -- JUST IN TIME, it seems, for these explosive torture memos to get released, causing a ratcheting up (in my view) of the prospects of the US AG appointing a special prosecutor. In light of the Spanish court's actions, I had said yesterday that it was a good time for the Bush Six to stay at home -- today it looks more like it would be a good time for them to go on a long vacation abroad -- and there INDEED is the rub! There's no where they can go now. The posse has them in a dead end canyon. To mix my metaphors, even though there are still MANY more moves to be played, checkmate is clearly in view as the posse stalks the Bush Six and MANY OTHERS. Most interesting of all is who, in my view, is almost certainly revealed now as one of the key people who has been riding ALL ALONG with the posse -- Obama. Acting on the surface as the reluctant "let's look forward and forget about the past" voice of "above-it-all" non-partisan moderation, I can't see how this could have played out this way (at least so far) without his active orchestration at virtually every step of the way. We shall see! What do you think? [For my casual visitors, I apologize -- the comments function hasn't been activated yet].
Not to be Trusted (Dan Froomkin) from the Washington Post
"Today's revelation in the New York Times that the National Security Agency engaged in "significant and systemic" violations of the nation's already highly relaxed surveillance laws manages to be both shocking and unsurprising at the same time."
Head of Senate Panel Seeks Hearing on Wiretaps from the New York Times
"“These are serious allegations, and we will make sure we get the facts,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who leads the Senate intelligence committee. “The committee is looking into this, and we will hold a hearing on this subject within one month.”"
Now That's a Great American (Michael Tomasky) from the Guardian [of London]
"It's people like Thomas Tamm who were this country's salvation during those years of official criminality [under Bush]."
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