Comments on: Turnabout Would Be Fair Play: US Seeks 147 Year Torture Sentence

By: joanneleon

joanneleon — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:05:26 +0000

Go to change.gov and find Bob Fertic’s question in the “Open for Questions” section and vote for it.

http://change.gov/page/content.....s20081229/

You’ll have to search for his question as there is no way to provide a link to a specific question. It is in the “Additional Issues” category and it is one of the top questions (second in ranking at the moment, I believe).

Here is Bob’s question:

“Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor - ideally Patrick Fitzgerald - to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?”
Bob Fertik, New York City

There is a netroots effort to bump this question to the top. Go and make your last effort of 2008, register, and vote for Bob’s question. The deadline is midnight 12/31/08 — tonight.

By: JohnForde

JohnForde — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:01:53 +0000

“I wonder who will prosecute the the denizens of the Bush Administration for the same acts?”

I know I am skating perillouslly close to the legal line but — I will try to implement their prosecution.

If I had the physical opportunity to throw Dick Cheney in a duffle bag and smuggle him to The Hague, it’s hard to imagine that I could restrain myself from doing it.

And Dick, there are thousands of righteous patriotic Americans just like me. Probably even several among your domestic staff.

By: freepatriot

freepatriot — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:32:27 +0000

so, uhm, can filings from one prosecution be cited by defendants in other prosecutions ???

cuz I could think of a few defendants at GITMO who might want to use this opinion …

an btw, you told me to “go figure”, so I did. Under federal sentencing guidelines, on a 147 year sentence, you’d be eligible for parole in 117.6 years

that’s what I do when ya mention a prision sentence and tell me to figure …

By: PAR4

PAR4 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:09:07 +0000

Jeb Bush?

By: acquarius74

acquarius74 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:08:53 +0000

On this subject I recommend watching the 12/23/08 Amy Goodman interview with Rep. Jerrold Nadler. 3 years ago he wrote a letter to Mukasey on this; ignored. He recently sent another which he expects to be ignored.

Rep Nadler (D)NY, states that he will introduce legislation in the next Congress that reinstates the old Office of Special Counsel to investigate criminal acts by BushCo. Also, a Constitutional Amendment which specifically limits the presidential pardon powers.

I can’t do Rep Nadler justice, so please watch/listen. (and give us an article?_

http://www.democracynow.org
then click Past Shows, scroll down to 2008, December, 12/23

By: bell

bell — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:06:28 +0000

I wonder who will prosecute the the denizens of the Bush Administration for the same acts?

hypocrisy is alive and well in the usa.. obama and crew show no willingness towards accountability..

By: R.H. Green

R.H. Green — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:32:43 +0000

Well, it is precedent.

By: bmaz

bmaz — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:10:04 +0000

yeah I figured you would get a painful chuckle out of this one

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:22:45 +0000

Hmmm, Miami, eh? Wasn’t that the destination of choice for the legal proceedings against another US torture victim, whose lawyers tried to raise his torture as an element of defense and were told the fact that he’d been tortured in seclusion for years to the point where he was incapable of assisting in his defense was just not “relevant”

If I’m recollecting that venue correctly, it’s just another layer in the irony cake.

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:13:57 +0000

So, I’m guessing no one cited the Khalid el-Masri dismissal as prececent, eh? Interesting that a court here in the US feels it has jurisdiction to go forward (there shall be no sanctuary for torturers) on a Liberian torturing in Liberia at the behest of his Liberian President, but when it is Americans torturing at the behest of an American president, no one can hear the case and the Sup Ct refuses cert.

Given that the Dept of Justice has actively worked to solicit, promote, advocate and proliferate torture, or sat in silent acquiescence for years now, I can’t imagine how you could find anything within the Dept that could be a prosecutor on their torture. Blagojevich tried to sell a Senate seat, the people who have worked for DOJ for the last 4-5 years accomplished the sale of justice and their souls. *Interesting* that those kinds of people can be “shocked” by his behaviour. Something biblical about eyes, motes and beams comes to mind.