Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.
Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."
The question was inspired by a recent report by ABC News, confirmed by the Associated Press, that high-level officials including Vice President Dick Cheney and former Cabinet secretaries Colin Powell, John Ashcroft and Donald Rumsfeld, among others, met in the White House and discussed the use of waterboarding and other torture techniques on terrorism suspects.
I mentioned the report in my question, and said "I know you've talked about reconciliation and moving on, but there's also the issue of justice, and a lot of people -- certainly around the world and certainly within this country -- feel that crimes were possibly committed" regarding torture, rendition, and illegal wiretapping. I wanted to know how whether his Justice Department "would aggressively go after and investigate whether crimes have been committed."
Here's his answer, in its entirety:
What I would want to do is to have my Justice Department and my Attorney General immediately review the information that's already there and to find out are there inquiries that need to be pursued. I can't prejudge that because we don't have access to all the material right now. I think that you are right, if crimes have been committed, they should be investigated. You're also right that I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve.
So this is an area where I would want to exercise judgment -- I would want to find out directly from my Attorney General -- having pursued, having looked at what's out there right now -- are there possibilities of genuine crimes as opposed to really bad policies. And I think it's important-- one of the things we've got to figure out in our political culture generally is distinguishing betyween really dumb policies and policies that rise to the level of criminal activity. You know, I often get questions about impeachment at town hall meetings and I've said that is not something I think would be fruitful to pursue because I think that impeachment is something that should be reserved for exceptional circumstances. Now, if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the law -- and I think that's roughly how I would look at it.
The bottom line is that: Obama sent a clear signal that -- unlike impeachment, which he's ruled out and which now seems a practical impossibility -- he is at the least open to the possibility of investigating potential high crimes in the Bush White House. To many, the information that waterboarding -- which the United States has considered torture and a violation of law in the past -- was openly planned out in the seat of American government is evidence enough to at least start asking some tough questions in January 2009.
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
Great question, Will, and a typically thoughtful answer from Obama. I would expect that he, as a teacher of constitutional law, would recognize crimes against the Constitution. Regarding the two comments above from "The Genius," he or she is not much of a genius or even careful reader. Although your last sentence did focus on waterboarding, the gist of the post transcended that one possible crime. Also, when does defending the Constitution or calling for crimes to be punished become "hate America first?" I believe that defending the Constitution and fair but strict treatment of criminals is a main strand of "love America."
Joe Galloway has said he thinks Bush will pardon all of his buddies, including himself, before he leaves the White House.— pol- Amazing, isn't it, that idiots like genius (or should I say geniuses like Idiot?), still have so much hatred for some 1/2 of the American public. Logical sequencing in the mind of an Idiot: (1) "Libz" are concerned about potential that policies were implimented by government officials knowlingly breaking the law. (2) Obama says that if such offenses occurred, he'd take it seriously. (3) Idiot/genius calls libz "Sally boys." I can only guess the next.... (4) Obama says something politically incorrect, (5) Idiot/genius gets "concerned" and worries that Obama won't make a good president.— Talking point sleuth
- Defending the Constitution is what the President and all sworn officials explicitly swear in the Oath of Office. They don't swear to kick ass, they don't swear to assuage the cowardly genius above. Why do you hate the Constitution so much, genius? Because your Boy George can't run for a third term anymore? Because you're so afraid of the boogeyman and you need the big Mommy Government to look tough to make you feel safe when you get tucked into bed every night?— SteveMG
- Wouldn't it be something to have a president who not only understands and respects the constitution, but has the judgement to distinguish really bad policy from crimes and put the good of the country ahead of political gain or retribution. I think I'll vote Obama! Respect for the law and the constitution is my kind of partiotism.— no expert
- I feel so much better knowing that a President Obama is going to spend his time and energy going after his fellow Americans who have been protecting us from the Islamic terrorists who are intent on killing Americans.— IanMc
- Comment removed.
- I love that the poster styling himself "The Genius" decided that the standard we should hold ourselves to isn't the one set by the rest of civilized society, but al Qaeda. For someone who thinks that everyone who disagrees with George Bush is a terrorist-coddler, he sure seems to think that the terrorists set the bar for our nation. The Founders--who insisted that our new nation conduct itself with more respect for humanity than the British and Hessians showed to our people in order to prove our worthiness as a world power--would be proud of such "genius" rationalizations.— jrlentini
- IanMc - that was snark, right?— gimmeabreak
- Comment removed.
- I don't have my hopes up that there will be much prosecution. Bush&Co are slippery characters and congress has passed some pretty vague laws to cover their criminal asses with. Hell, the AUMF alone is the gift that keeps on giving. And on the domestic front, the Patriot Act is like a portmanteau law. We could, however, prosecute a whole bunch of appointees for malfeasance but it wouldn't be a much fun.— GMFORD
- Do you remember what happened on 9/11/01, gimmeabreak? I wish Democrats like Obama did.— IanMc
- Wouldn't be a breath of fresh air to have a president that actually followed the constitution instead of calling it a "damn piece of paper"? Or a president that actually followed the law instead of ignoring it or having his lawyer friends misinterpret it or writing something at the bottom that said he was excluded from it? Nothing the Bush administration has done has stopped terrorism. In fact, what he has done has helped OBL achieve his goals, from taking out Saddam at the expense of our military instead of his terror group, to the abolishment of our freedoms to the downfall of our economy. All are part of his agenda and Bush has helped him achieve it. I am looking forward to anyone that actually stands up for the constitution and goes after those responsible for the attack on our country.— appleannie1
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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