The 'expert' opinion on this is almost certainly wrong. Some people in the intelligence community will resist - those with something to hide. But the torture policies of the Bush administration were not popular within the intel community.

The investigation will certainly be unpopular with the GOP and its enablers. The exact same people who claimed that it was essential to impeach Clinton will attempt to block criminal investigation of Bush and Cheney. But they will fail.

A criminal investigation has its own dynamic. The GOP can whine about it, but the whining will only tie them further to the criminals.

Such a decision would roil the country, would likely plunge Washington into a new round of partisan warfare, and could even imperil Obama's domestic priorities, including health care and energy reform.

Partisan warfare could be good for Obama's domestic agenda. It might force conservative dems to stick with the party.

"sins"??? ambinder says "sins"?

what a sweet little sunday school word for torture, murder, treason, et al.

Just shoot me.

During the Clinton administration there was nothing too trivial for endless investigations into Democrats (Christmas card lists, anyone?) nor too egregious behaviour by Republicans (Iran-Contra?) that were considered to damaging to fully investigate.

As with many criminal investigations, the culprit who's finally convicted is rarely at the center of the initial inquiry....

Had McCain won, would Rep. Dan Burton be on his 20th week of intensive investigations into Rev. Wright and would he be sharing with the Special Prosecutor looking into the affairs of Bill Ayers?

It's rare that an old pop song sums up my political opinion, but in the words of Steely Dan:

Throw back the little ones
and pan fry the big ones
Use tact, poise and reason
and gently squeeze them

If ever a public official deserved to be pan fried, it's Dick Cheney.

"charged with sins"

Hmmm, a Court of Inquisition, or something from the days of Cromwell, or the early days of the Puritan rule in the colonies? Somehow, I don't recall taking a class in either "Sin Procedure" or "Sin Law".

Hmmm-I remember a time when Congress would investigate blowjobs. But now, investigation of Crimes of Moral Turpitude by those in positions of authority---well, my God man, we would not want to offend anybodies delicate sensibilities, now would we?!

So let me get this straight. Democrats can be hounded and pilloried for consensual sex with an adult and lying about it in a trumped-up civil case, but Republicans are immune even from investigation for torture, illegal wiretapping and (possibly) running a covert assassination squad.

Sounds more like Stalin's old regime than America, doesn't it? No worries if you belong to the right party...

Since the beginning of his presidential transition, Obama has been counseled by his attorneys that any such investigation is likely to be incomplete, resulting in people being charged with sins they participated it but did not originate.

Seems simple to me: let's investigate and charge the originators of those "sins" (torture programs). Why the hell are Cheney and Bush immune to this? What happened to "no one is above the law"? I think Obama should have said, "No one is above the law-- except when it's convenient."

I hope Obama continues to look forward, and lets the DOJ do its job -- which consists, in large part, in looking backward. This Attorney General seems to know what he's doing.

" resulting in people being charged with sins they participated in but did not originate."

Gee officer I helped rob that bank but, it wasn't my idea, the other guy was in charge."

"Does this mean I don't have to go to jail?"

To not prosecute the underlings just because they were just following orders doesn't cut it. Just make sure you prosecute EVERYONE involved. No one should be able to get away with saying "it wasn't my idea to torture that prisoner". I would bet that EVERYONE involved, from bottom of the chain of command to the top knew just how wrong it was.

Bring it on, libs. Most Americans realize waterboarding isn't torture. Most Americans want the government to do everything possible to defende this country from evil, even if it means to not err on the side of caution.

Yes, please do bring about some Inquisition. I'd love to see Cheney hand Frank and Waxman and Pelosi their hats.

- Disappearances
- Torture
- Wiretapping of amerikans
- Electronic eavesdropping
- Subversion of the DOJ
- Cheney's assassination team

Every day that the Obama administration does not investigate the illegalities of the Bush Criminal Enterprise is another day that Obama is failing to uphold his oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution and the laws of our country.

To Al Jr. - the United States participated in the trials and executions of Japanese after WWII for crimes that explicitly included waterboarding. Waterboarding is NOT the only form of torture that was used by the Bush administration. Waterboarding is recognized as illegal under U.S. and international law. Go fuck yourself, you evil asshole.

Won't happen. Truth is what we ask of other nations, not of ourselves.

It is said that Boy George wanted Osama's head on a platter -

Gee, this sounds like Manuel Noriega. Oh, to the GOP posters on this site, Noriega was president of Panama before the U.S. grabbed him to put him in U.S. prison for money-laundering, and ties to drug cartel.

There *is* no decision to be made here- none. There is ample evidence to suggest that violations of US treaty obligations occurred under the Bush administration; the US Constitution places treaty obligations as the law of the land; therefore, prosecutions of said violations is *required* under US law.

There is no question about this, nor should there be even the slightest controversy over it. Pres. Obama, as a former professor of Constitutional Law, should see this quite clearly.

-Z

This is establishment beltway talk that does not reflect the attitudes of the people of this nation. So what if the "minority" screams their heads off...so what if they can't get everyone involved prosecuted...Laws were broken and people suffered and died as a result.

Standing up for the rule of law and for the constitution does much to combat America's hypocrisy...that members of government are above the law...the same laws enforced on its citizens.

If Holder acts like Pelosi and her followers they wanted a sure conviction before they would even investigate.

The whole world knows Bush/Cheney administration broke our laws. Even if they go scott free for their admitted crimes the investigation and prosecution demonstrates to the entire world that we will hold people accountable if they break the law no matter who they are.

Doing nothing makes a mockery of our system of justice and tells all future office holders that they are above the law and will not be held accountable for breaking it.

Something the dept of Justice is doing should not interfere with the actions of congress or interfere with Obama's agenda. Congress does not shut down when the DoJ goes about enforcing the law or investigating law breakers.

Who will stand up against the executive branch and hold them accountable if our own Attorney General does not? He does not work for the president...he works for the people and takes an oath to uphold the constitution.

There is already more than enough evidence to warrant an investigation and the entire world is aware of that. By doing nothing then we are a nation of hypocrisy. One law for them and another for me. Now we will see if Holder has the balls to be a real Attorney General. (one would have to be extremely naive not to see this coming)

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