Prosecutions of Bush Administraton Figures?

The real question is not whether the U.S. government kidnapped people from foreign countries without extradition, tortured captives, turned others over to third parties for torture, engaged in illegal surveillance of American citizens on U.S. soil, held suspects without due process, and lied about what it was doing. No, none of that is even in question anymore. The real question is, what should we do about the Bush Administration's violations of treaties, laws and the Constitution?

Opinion is divided on the matter. It runs the entire gamut. Representative Henry Waxman would like to send people to jail. Senator Patrick Leahy, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, wants to hold congressional inquiries with the power to grant immunity to those who testify. President Obama says, "no one is above the law," but by saying he wants to, "look forward, not backward" he signals his preference not to delve into these matters. Speaker Pelosi said impeachment and presumably prosecutions are "off the table." They could derail the Democratic legislative agenda. That explains Obama's reluctance, too. They have a lot of big issues to solve and do not want to expend precious political capital. Most Republicans have made it clear they are vehemently opposed to any investigation or proceedings. Some, such as GOP congressional leaders warn it would become a partisan "witch hunt" that would take over our political discourse and irrevocably poison interparty relations. The former president and vice president and the hard core right feel that whatever was done was completely justified on an 'end justifies the means' argument.

Each of these is a valid argument from its own perspective. Congressional investigations would initiate a partisan cat fight. This might well delay or gum up the Obama administration's legislative program. It would certainly spark heated debate over the airwaves and throughout society. But to do nothing is to excuse, condone and perhaps encourage more wrongdoing. What is the right thing to do?

The right approach is to leave Congress and the President out of it and turn the Justice Department loose on it. If crimes have been committed then the place for them is court. Leave the politics to fall where they may.

If these depredations were committed by organized crime or common thugs, what would the response be? Would there be anyone arguing against prosecuting kidnappers, trespassers, peeping toms, identity theft hackers and sadistic torturers? Of course not. To argue the contrary is to accept Richard Nixon's famous dictum, "If the president does it, it's not illegal." The next step after accepting that is totalitarianism.

I felt for a long time that Gerald Ford's pardon of Nixon was warranted. The nation had been through a year and a half of debilitating fighting over Watergate. I felt it was time to get it behind us and let the healing begin. I felt being forced to resign was punishment enough for someone as compulsively ambitious as Nixon.

But today I feel I was wrong. Important people in his administration drew the opposite conclusion, that the President's power to do whatever he pleased, legal or not, had been compromised and needed to be restored. Twenty-six years later, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld came back to get to work on that. And George W. Bush fell right into line with them. After all, not even Nixon had to suffer the personal humiliation of prison. Immense power beckoned without personal risk. That is why criminal investigations must go forward. There has to be a personal deterrent for people contemplating serious crimes. Any conservative would normally agree with that.

So no, dispense with congressional investigations. They are toothless and can only detract from the critical reform and recovery legislation the country needs. Keep the current President out of this. Neither does he need distraction from his primary duties and responsibilities. Let the Justice Department under Eric Holder begin building criminal cases. If sufficient evidence turns up, file charges. If former officials are convicted, send them to prison. If the often self-proclaimed greatest democracy in the world shrinks from enforcing its own laws and Constitution against the powerful, then what is it, really?