". . . I don't believe that anybody is above the law. But my instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing." President-elect Obama

I'm thinking about taking the traffic ticket I got last week and mailing it back without a check and including a note instead that says, "While I don't think I am above the law, I believe it is important for the county to move forward rather than looking back and to ensure that drivers are doing the right thing in the future."

Think they'll buy it?

He says he right things, and being a realist is a good thing. Doing it correctly does take time. However, Democrats have been conditioned by years of leadership by the likes of Reid, Daschle and various other Senators and Representatives. We expect our leaders to say the right thing right up until the moment they "compromise" and stab us in the back. It's not Obama's fault that some of us don't completely trust him, but that fact is out there.

it's my opinion that obama really has to do something about reigning in the excesses of the bush administration. failure to do that, and to punish those who broke the law, will only give them the signal that what they did was okay, and if they ever regain control of the white house, they'll just pick up where they left off. we need to make it clear such behavior is totally unacceptable in this country.

It's not too late to declare Marshall law.

Would YOU admit you were going to try President Cheney for war crimes?

We'll see what happens in February.

Just as a traffic ticket may go unsettled for some time, if you don't mail in the fine, then so too might the crimes of the Bushylvanians go unpunished for some time. But in both cases, someone finally picks up the unsettled debt and seeks to collect on it. Crimes against humanity, against the Constitution, and acts that constitute war crimes have no statutes of limitations---and statutes of limitations on anything else are not set in stone; they can easily be legislated away.

Holder knows this, and he believes in its validity---which is why the GOPers are banging the drum so loudly and ferociously against his nomination/confirmation as AG. Holder is a clear and present danger to the farcical nonsense known as "Republican values...."

Actually I view the comments as a positive. Though, I will be interested in seeing the interview in 2 hours in order to make a more firm evaluation.

Given what I have witnessed re PEBO's style, I think he is loathe to "swing for the fences" until he at least knows where the fences are. So he will be content to have staff look into info that he has had no access to before he develops a game plan - and before he shoots of his mouth.

So, ultimately, he's going to be making some calls, but my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future, as opposed looking at what we got wrong in the past.

Similarly, my general belief is that when it comes to street crime, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future, as opposed looking at what we got wrong in the past, which is why I don't want the police and prosecutors to waste precious time and resources arresting and imprisoning murderers, rapists, kidnappers and thieves for crimes that have already occurred in the past.....

I don't understand why folks -- for example in Kansas, where Fort Leavenworth is located -- get so batshit crazy about the prospect of a relatively small number of detainees from Guantanamo being incarcerated there as part of a shift to a more conventional justice system (e.g., a military-style court martial).

These guys don't have superpowers. They're criminals, and once you cut of their interaction with each other, take away their cellphones and safehouses, I suspect they're actually LESS of a physical threat than the drug gang members our system deals with on a daily basis. In most of the cases we know about from Gitmo, these detainees seem to be pretty pathetic sorts of folks. Bin Laden's chauffeur? Jeebus.

Or have we just become so used to the idea that these guys are the "worst of the worst" that we just can't handle the notion that they can actually be contained within a steel and cement box?

An important part of looking to the future is to make sure that the people who committed crimes in the past never get a chance to do it again. The Nixonites and Iran-contra-ites who should have never even been allowed into a public library again instead got a chance to actually run the government.

In another 15 years the generation of creeps who graduated from this mess will return and give us another past that we can instead ignore as we look to the future again

And we shall thank Obama for that.

If the guy who'd set up the torture regime still had the power to arbitrarily pardon everyone you wanted to prosecute and put them beyond the reach of our justice system, would you announce that you were going to pursue prosecutions?

Sounds like the fix is in ... So much America, it used to mean something.

I believe this is known as Wimpin' Out, aka Clintonitis. BWA, Marshall Law is spelled Martial.

Just as a point of interest, I personally know a MO National Guard member that is in the process of being deployed to Gitmo with the mission of beginning its closure, so something is underway. I also think that this country has quite enough mess to clean up first that pouring money into a very long criminal investigation that will further divide us and not likely result in any criminal sentencing is probably not the most fiscally responsible thing to do. Just my opinion. Perhaps an eventual "truth and reconciliation" process might be in order.

Steve, do you believe he will ever have Holder appoint a prosecutor? Or that Holder would recommend one? To me, having run a special prosecutor petition on my blog, that was clear Friday, already.

And, while Obama may look to the future, in many other parts of the world, as the Israel-Hamas conflict shows, they don’t.

And "discomfort" doesn't cut the mustard or feed the bulldog.

Heather, given that the "truth and reconciliation" bill has only 10 House sponsors and not a word of support from Pelosi OR B.O. himself, sadly, that ain't going anywhere either.

Why?

1. Too many Democratic hands have their own amount of blood on them.

2. As I expected months ago, and as Uncle Fester also said after the election, Obama isn't necessarily ready to give up all that BushCo accumulation of power.

Have another glass of Kool-Aid, true believers. That includes you, Mnemosyne; boy, are you gullible.

Among other things, a special prosecutor could still work around Bush pardons by pursuing civil suits, against which pardon is no recouse, and which have a lower burden of proof in court.

I'm with Mnemosyne, @12:02; now is not the time to show your hand, especially if it's holding a 2x4 or a heavy lead pipe. At least wait till his cabinet picks have been confirmed and he himself is President-De-Facto, not President-Elect.

I'm going to echo Mnemosyne (and exlibra). If Obama showed his hand at this point we'd all be pissed. And if you want a preview of how much fun we're going to have over the next four years, read The Art of War.

To those who think Obama is "wimping out":

Talk to me in three months, after Obama has an actual chance to do something about it.

Until then, could we please stop the whining about how Obama has supposedly sold out, wimped out or betrayed his supporters? It's a bit out of character with the largely intelligent commenting on this site.

If you understand the man (I would suggest reading his excellent books as a start), you will realize the effectiveness of his MO and his reverence for ethics and lawfulness.

Give the man a chance, don't judge his POTUS performance before he even takes office.

Thanks...

It's interesting baiting the Republicans and the President on this. They do a Rove and go on record with what they have done. Please keep talking - anything you say will be used against you in a court of law!

As to is water boarding torture? And is it a war crime? We tried and convicted Japanese soldiers on this very act after WW2 for WAR CRIMES. So that boat sailed a LONG TIME ago.

I think the usually suspects will never leave our country. The rest of the world is going to pull a Pinochet on them. And they will fight like hell over bull$hit about the AG, but this is the $hit that keeps them awake at night (or hitting the bottle again.) Because if the AG goes on record that he will support International Law, then there is NO DEBATE about what that means. They are guilty.

And is this just another head fake to get them out of the country? We'll see...)

That includes you, Mnemosyne; boy, are you gullible.

SG, remind me the last time you were right about something, because I can't remember it ever happening.

"...from my view waterboarding is torture. I have said that under my administration we will not torture."

But if other administrations do or if they have in the past I won't say a word.

Dems got elected in '06 with two priorities from the people...1)stop the war; 2)end the government corruption of the Bush administration. They did neither...didn't even try...just mouthed the words.

We demanded that Obama hold the Bush administration accountable for war crimes and breaking the law...and he's throwing the same Pelosi rhetoric at us..."It would distract from policy making". It will make or break our trust in government yet once again we will see that the law does not apply top our political leaders. Bush has already demonstrated that he is "above the law" so Obama is lying when he makes the claim that no one is above the law if he allows Bush to go without accountability or consequences.

How can you change the way business is done in Washington when you refuse to hold accountable the way business is done.

Just close your eyes and don't look back at the recent past and it will all look like change.

"The only change we have to fear is that which we fear to change"-JBacon

The Money Party membership dues or what???

I still think it's the case of "don't watch my lips watch my hands". He *says* "let's move forward", suggesting the "let's bygones be bygones" attitude but, at the same time...

Think Progress has a posting on the same subject:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/11/obama-special-prosecutor-torture/
but mentions this little tid-bit:

Dawn Johnsen, Obama’s choice to lead the Office of Legal Counsel, rejects Obama’s “look forward” approach. In March 2008, she told “the next president” to avoid “any temptation to simply move on”:

We must avoid any temptation simply to move on. We must instead be honest with ourselves and the world as we condemn our nation’s past transgressions and reject Bush’s corruption of our American ideals. Our constitutional democracy cannot survive with a government shrouded in secrecy, nor can our nation’s honor be restored without full disclosure.

(The TP snippet includes a link to her full article, which I'm too ''puter-illiterate to reproduce)

So, he knew what her attitude was and still picked her as "his Yoo". To me, it's more indicative of his mindset than the platitudes he spouts to the Sunday pundicks.

The most important thing here is to make sure these people couldn't be simply pardoned by the next Republican President. How can Obama ensure that doesn't happen? Round them up and send them to The Hague. Get them OUT of the jurisdiction of the United States, because justice here will only be fleeting.

There needs to be a war crimes tribunal for Bush, Cheney, Yoo, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, et al.