at least I can spell the BAD words
Finally, the pending criminal case in Spain targeting the Bush Six—former administration officials implicated in setting the torture policy—adds another complexity. Spanish prosecutors, who opposed the prosecution of the case after the Spanish attorney general intervened in opposition, told State Department officials that the Spanish case would likely be suspended if the Justice Department were to take up an investigation. A decision by Holder to open a probe would therefore likely protect the Bush Six from prosecution overseas.
On April 21, Levin declassified the Senate Armed Services Committee’s exhaustive study of the treatment of detainees. The report lands a series of devastating blows on Bush administration claims since the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. It firmly links the abuses at Abu Ghraib to abusive interrogation practices that the administration introduced, specifically documenting how the techniques Rumsfeld approved for use at Guantánamo worked their way into the list of approved techniques in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.
It ridicules Pentagon claims that the problems were the product of a “few rotten apples.” “The record established by the committee’s investigation shows that senior officials sought out information on, were aware of training in, and authorized the use of abusive interrogation techniques,” Senator Levin said. “Those senior officials bear significant responsibility for creating the legal and operational framework for the abuses. As the committee report concluded, authorizations of aggressive interrogation techniques by senior officials resulted in abuse and conveyed the message that physical pressures and degradation were appropriate treatment for detainees in U.S. military custody.”
Obama’s initial statement that CIA agents involved in the Bush “enhanced interrogation techniques” program would not be investigated or prosecuted was taken at the Justice Department as pushing the boundaries of political involvement in criminal law. But the statement by Emanuel, seen as a distinctly political figure, was perceived at Justice as going beyond those boundaries, according to high Justice officials. Within Justice, if Holder follows the now well-articulated views of the president and his chief of staff, the fear is that the attorney general would be viewed as a political subordinate in the mold of Alberto Gonzales. Ironically, the White House pronouncements have contributed to the momentum for a special prosecutor. That development coincides with the congressional voices now being raised for such an appointment.
Scott Horton is a law professor and writer on legal and national-security affairs for Harper's magazine and The American Lawyer, among other publications.
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