Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House
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Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House
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.
IanMc seems to believe that anything and everything can be excused by invoking 9/11/01.— maxcat06- Muslims killed Americans, so we should torture some Muslims? Anything the gov't does is OK as long as my kid is safe? Why are there so many half-witted, hand-walking right-wing freaks on this blog? Crimes have been committed on a grand and murderous scale by this administration and it is treasonous not to hold them accountable. If you don't understand this, CNN, ABC and Hannity have poisoned your mind. If the war criminals in this group are above the law, what deters future presidents from genocide and whizzing on the constitution, too? You idiots (test: if you use the word "lib", you're an idiot) out there had better stop believing all the crap you get from your talk shows and find the real news. 9/11 means you can torture people? That's reactionary, not American. We're supposed to defend ourselves, but we're supposed to think, too.— joemamick
- Hulk sarcastically wants to know what would be solved by prosecuting the Bush Crime Family. Here's your answer: When you break the law and are punished, future people see that and are deterred from committing crime. It's worked for millenia.— joemamick
- This is exactly the question I've been waiting for the press to ask, and Obama answered perfectly.— falasafa
- I'm real jealous because the last time the Democrats ran the administration, a gazillion of Hilly & Willie's cronies ended up staying at the Graybar Hotel. With President Bush in charge for almost 8 years, the number of Administration officials who went to do a stretch is negligible; I'm honest when I say I can't think of any, although there's no doubt you guys have a list all ready. What is it, 3? 5? First thing you Lefty dudes need to do is 'get' the difference between a mistake and a lie. It's a simple distinction. That takes care of most of the problems. I admit I've been pretty stumped for the past 8 years by all the vitriol and wasted energy exerted by many of my boomer former friends, trying to convince the world that something went terribly wrong in America and President George W. Bush is to blame. Lately, tho, I'm beginning to understand that history does repeat itself. Back in 1967-68, I was a young scamp heavily into rock music, poetry, radical politics - anything that I thought might help me score some ladies. We screamed that the war must end and LBJ must go, and I was surprised when most of my classmates rejected our rowdiness. I was angry, certain that the fix was in, that Dow Chemical was a criminal company - you know, the same kind of pot-banging paranoia being staged by today's Kossacks - but we had better hair. After a while, when the politics and chicks nexus never came together, I reassessed my behavior and went in another direction. Then, while my back was turned, the people who rejected our politics became a 'movement' and I remember thinking, "How silly." Today, we have thousands of those aging baby boomers still clinging to that nutso Left-wing junk. The heroes who stood up for America after 9/11 are somehow cast as villains. I say again, "How silly."— 50GreenDodge
- "After a while, when the politics and chicks nexus never came together, I reassessed my behavior and went in another direction." ________________________ You're projecting. Just because you were shallow and fickle doesn't mean others don't have true convictions. Some people actually believe, and can support with real law and precedent, that crimes may have been committed. They're not interested in prosecuting the Bush administration for the "chicks."— MasonMcD
- Right wingers are cowards.— exrepublican
- Wow I'm so SURPRISED that Obama is basically going to do nothing but prosecute a few underlings while the main ZIONISTS (read: neocons = super zionists) get away with FURTHER torture and further crimes. http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/motherofallscandals.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/hundreds.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/wtc_charges.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/anthrax_suspect.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/israelis_9-11.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring2.html AND THEN OF COURSE http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/palestinians.html Wake UP the world!!!!!!!! Douglas Feith, all of his friends are Zion fanatics and we have all been lied to!!!!!!! http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/blackmail.html But don't you worry Obama, NO ONE will get away with a thing because we're bringing in the international cops.— AgnosticRegime
- http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/anthraxsuspect.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/motherofallscandals.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring.html http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/spyring2.html Don't worry all justice will be served this is total garbage. http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/israelis_9-11.html— AgnosticRegime
- Funny how those who claim to be for America and for the laws want to turn it into a third-world country where dicatators can do whatever to whomever they want in the name of national security. Al-qaeda kills people, so we should. Great argument. To hell with waterboarding, let's burn them all at the stake on national TV. Show the world what a civilized nation does. I'm sure it will make loons like genius, ian happy.— mike l
- Hmmmm.....I wonder what shock the Founding Fathers would be in if the read some of the comments on this blog? Constitution, civil liberties? Who cares? Just give us security and safety.....Does Patrick Henry's speech before the Colonial Virginia legislature, which concluded witht he famous phrase "Give me Liberty or give me Death", ring hollow today? We are a nation of laws and the highest of those laws is the Constitution and its Amendments. It is from these laws that we have liberty, freedom, justice and order. Disregard those laws or change them on the whim of the Chief Executive, then there is no justice. Remember, it is PROCEDURE of our justice and legal system that keeps the system fair and all Americans safe. I think this principal is fully illustrated by the recent HBO series "John Adams" when Adams defended the British soldiers from murder charges stemming from the Boston Massacre. To Adams, notions of law and order and due process were essential in preserving the rights and liberties afforded to everyone. By failing to afford the British soldiers the right to due process and a vigorous legal defense would have made the criticisms of the British government in the name of liberty ring hollow. Adams did not care to put public opinion or the political biases of his fellow colonists ahead of the principles of liberty and due process. Adams knew that the elimination of due process and the law is the elimination of liberty. It is the law and the Constitution that protects from the basest tendencies of our fellow man and our government. A terroristic threat will probably always exist; but we should not be susceptible to harm from both our government and our nation's enemies.— Publius
- FOUNDER OF BET IS A RACIST? BET founder backs Ferraro on Obama Associated Press, by Staff Charlotte - The billionaire founder of Black Entertainment Television says Barack Obama would not be a leading presidential candidate if he were white and that the Illinois senator's campaign has ''a hair-trigger on anything racial.'' (Snip) ''What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called 'Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90% of the black vote?'' Johnson said. ''And the answer is, probably not.''— pookie
There is not one shred of evidence of any criminal wrongdoing in the Bush Administration. You libs can't touch them. Get over it.— jmc- What does the founder of BET care about race? His television programming shows African-Americans in the same light as minstrel shows of years ago. He doesn't care about race; only the profits of his television network. BET only perpetuates racial preconceptions and gives Bill Cosby ammunition for his speeches. But, also, the converse of the Ferraro statement is would Hillary have such a good portion of the white middle-class vote and the white elderly vote if she wasn't white? Also, Johnson is wrong on his statistics; Obama never started with 90% of the black vote. Many African-Americans originally were voting for Clinton (Obama had a majority, but not as big as he does now). African-Americans only started to turn to Obama after he proved his mettle on the campaign.— Publius
- Hey, Will, this post got linked on FreeRepublic: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001668/posts— db_cooper
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