Paul Krugman, writing for both the NY Times and the IHT, makes a telling point about how Obama, like it or not, must bring to account those, whoever they might be, who broke the law during the Bush administration. Unpallatable it might be, but justice must not only be done but be seen to be done - or else, as Krugman rightly says, any administration is effectively scott-free to do as it pleases, legally or otherwise, without being accountable for doing so.
"Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration.
"I don't believe that anybody is above the law," he responded, but "we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."
I'm sorry, but if we don't have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years - and nearly everyone has taken Obama's remarks to mean that we won't - this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don't face any consequences if they abuse their power.
Let's be clear what we're talking about here. It's not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation's security. The fact is that the Bush administration's abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies."
Continue to read the piece here.
"Last Sunday President-elect Barack Obama was asked whether he would seek an investigation of possible crimes by the Bush administration.
"I don't believe that anybody is above the law," he responded, but "we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards."
I'm sorry, but if we don't have an inquest into what happened during the Bush years - and nearly everyone has taken Obama's remarks to mean that we won't - this means that those who hold power are indeed above the law because they don't face any consequences if they abuse their power.
Let's be clear what we're talking about here. It's not just torture and illegal wiretapping, whose perpetrators claim, however implausibly, that they were patriots acting to defend the nation's security. The fact is that the Bush administration's abuses extended from environmental policy to voting rights. And most of the abuses involved using the power of government to reward political friends and punish political enemies."
Continue to read the piece here.
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