Hello everyone;

I'm new to the community so I wanted to say hello.

I wanted to say that outrage and frustration are emotional responses that deserve some attention on this subject. I have been reading all of the subject matter regarding this issue and there have been many times that I've felt so disgusted with this subject that I've had to get up and walk away from the issue until I could get my emotions in a better context.

I want to ask you to consider for a moment that the progress of our society has been slow but deliberate. Each time that we get knocked down by some disappointment we get back up and struggle on. I had trouble at first getting involved in political actions because of my desire to just worry about me, and like me I can't get to my home without each of you being safe and protected by the laws of this country.

I want to see the people that authorized torture or enhanced interrogation methods or illegal interview actions to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity, however there is a qualifier here. The men and women in the Intelligence agency and the Armed Services should have known better but they were doing something that was described as acceptable.

The present congress CANNOT point the finger at themselves for their participation in the actions of the previous administration however, the issue won't go away. The issues that are currently making the country lose some sleep aren't the personal freedoms of individuals that are a perceived threat to the government. This 111th Congress wants to discuss the economic climate of the country. Please pinch yourself when you read this to get a grip on the emotional outrage and disgust that is natural to feel when anyone like you, or me or, your grandmother might be in the personal care of these legislators. My blood starts to warm when I hear discussions about the facts of congressional commitees that were delayed and didn't publish their reports about the DOD involvement in every imaginable offense to human beings until after the election dates in 2006 and the national election in 2008. This is the most outrageous behavior of all. Do you remember the court martial of the Army Captain who stood up against the danger during the summer of 2005. He told his volunteer contractors that were in charge of driving petrol trucks down Highway one in Baghdad that they were not going to drive unprotected and unescorted vehicles through the heart of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad. His court martial is over now and he is doing fine. They took his comission but since the public awareness of his trisl got so much sattention the Army prosecutor decided at the last minute to drop the criminal prosecution charge.

Please weigh the present discussion of prosecuting the men who conducted these enhanced interrogation methods with this in mind. Disgusting as that might be the bigger issue is in making sure that the architects and the policy makers understand that behavior like this will never happen again.
Thanks for your time.

While I am all for prosecuting the architects of the torture policy as well as those who actually took pleasure in carrying it out (and even took it beyond proscribed limits) - there were a lot of participants who (in their minds) were simply following justifyable orders.

More importantly, we have to weigh the advantages of trying to right every wrong of the Bush administration & corporate f#$%s through prosecution - knowing, as we do, that we will alienate some people whose support we need in order to accomplish a greater agenda.

I, for one, am willing to see some guilty jerks slip through the cracks if it means we can build more real support for real change.

Nominee for U.S. Attorney under fire for role in Postville Iowa raid (Waterloo Courier, April 5, 2009)
Let’s hope the Obama Administration takes a lesson from the Bybee/torture embarrassment and immediately stop a very troubling U.S Attorney nomination that will only serve to further damage our international reputation for the humane treatment of prisoners. As the May 12th anniversary of the Postville Iowa Agriprocessors ICE raid nears, we all should be reminded of the outrageous way immigrants working in Postville were treated: first like slaves and then denied any form of justice in swift and chaotic criminal court proceedings orchestrated by the Northern Iowa United States Attorney’s office. Unbelievably now Stephanie Rose one of top federal prosecutors responsible for the egregious and inhumane Postville, Iowa prosecution has been recommend to be promoted to the powerful position of United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa.
Postville was a massive failure on many levels, not the least of which was a failure of prosecutorial judgment. The fact that Ms Rose played a “central role” in this travesty and considers it a “success story” is very disturbing. Her role in Postville should render her unfit to be a viable candidate to serve as a USA in the Obama Administration.

The most noxious administration for the past 8 years is guilty of high crimes, etc. It is egregious to even contemplate for a minute moving beyond this. Has not history clearly shown that an attitude of "let's get past this" has emboldened a governing body to rise to greaterlevels of crimes against humanity? The buck must stop here.
I will support any nation or legislator that wants to rise up and bring the architects of the 8 years of abuse, misery and destruction that has battered our nation with a force that has been felt around the world! The people want the same
justice as with the Nuremburg Trials. Apparently we once again need to be reminded that we can never again allow this to happen. There is enough blame to go
around.However, it is of the utmost importance that
this complacency stop here and now!

Torture is not leagal. Cheating is not OK. Put Bush in jail.

Nixon said, "I am not a crook."
Ford took him at his word
& quite imperially, made history, closing the book.
He re-emerged as the stiff chuckling Reagan
and the forgotten Iran Contra affair,
and set up his spiritual son, Bush I
who like Putin, was head of our secret police
when the ole booger man was a Bear.
This escaped the notice of the sleeping giant
who stayed asleep during Little Bush II's
attack on the Constitution. If we put that behind us
we'll still be asleep
but it will be like a monkey on our back.
When Jesus said, "Get thee behind me Satan"
the inference is that he could not be watched
as he let slip the dogs of war in Babylon,
better known today as "Iraq."
And so a precedent sets like cement:
for sinning there is always repenting
and for crime there's no punishment.
"Let's look to the future," I shudder to hear
"Let's put this behind us, let the healing begin."
If that's what we said of a boil,
we would soon face blood poisoning.
What is he today? A boil on our a_s_s
But we'll get sicker if that spirit lives on--
if we rush to put George in our past.
They say he's a good ole boy,
with whom you'd like having a beer.
(He made the crowd at Yale
stand up and cheer!)
Was he so charming that just riding with him,
behind the dark glass of that even darker car,
was enough to infect Obama,
whose justice just won't reach that far?
Don't worry Mr. President, you can be kind
just please allow us a prosecutor
a special one, a little one even, to restore
peace of mind
to a nation that's been kicked like a dog
afraid to be seen without an American flag
displayed on lapel or shorts if you jog
lest someone think ("shhh...unpatriotic")
or ("prob'ly anuth'r lib'ral f_g").
We impeached old Bill for hanky panky,
Republicans gave him a lynch job
while the whole world watched.
Now that same world despises us & our need
to be the good guys every time,
(a role that torture may actually have botched).
I think they say, "Keep your freedom
if it must be with profitable smart bombs attached."
I think they prefer staying free from
something so smart that acts so dumb.
What else could you call it but dumb
to be the home of the brave
and yet home to rulers demanding its people be silent
or else
from that band of little brothers, to run?
Now is NOT the time to sleep or shut up.
Now is the time to show
that we really do have in our gut
a hunger for justice if nothing else--
and not cower before this government of the people
like a beaten pup.

R.Carr,MD,1L>JD