Obama Administration: No Prosecution of Officials for Bush-Era Torture Policy

There is a perpetual misnomer used again this morning: "TAX and SPEND". The problem is that in truth it is reversed. First comes the spending, then the taxing. The pain and the benefit are disassociated and the pain is usually kicked down the road.

Thank you Rahm. You've motivated me to change my voter registration from democratic to independent tomorrow.

Regarding the roundtable discussion.
I find it ironic that Sam Donaldson was appalled at the fact that Noonan
wanted to give a pass and move on rather
than prosecute those who supposedly
tortured our enemies. He wanted them
to be brought to justice for what they
had done. What is wrong with people
who have more sympathy for those looking
to inflict death and destruction on us
than those trying to save us from this?
Good grief this is another example of
the liberal press with some screwed up
priorities. Many of these "torture'
techniques were like a college hazing.
No one had their fingers cut off or
subjected to the likes of what some
of those who were so unlucky to be
captured and beheaded and the like.
Fake drowning and insects? Come on
Sam, get with the program.

There's a good reason for this. The Obama administration also wants the ability to use that policy without fear of future prosecution. Excellent.

This just reeks of corruption. Obama has caved to the Bushies because they're going to expose something ugly if he doesn't make this go away. I'd bet money on it.

I completely disagree with the decision not to prosecute. If I break the law, I get prosecuted. So should ANYone that broke the law. Retribution? Please...

I agree, spending time and resources on a witch hunt is not what America needs. The practices have been acknowledged, eliminated and we need to move forward dealing with the many other important issues that face us. Put it into perspective, the men who devised these policies were morally twisted but not exactly Nazi war criminals, and trying to nail down individual responsibility in court would be nothing but a decades-long fiasco costing millions of dollars and would likely yield no real satisfaction. The decision to right the wrong and move on was the correct one.

Selective morality. Torture is wrong...period. Hopefully warrants swill be issued in other democrtic countries for any U.S. nationals partaking in torture.

The Justice department should pursue this independently of any opinion te President has.

ok- so the color of his skin was in fact the only "change". Meet the new boss- same as the old boss.

You got it Justin... Only thanks to the MIAC report WE are considered as "terrorist" under this administration!!!

what about the 12million ILLEGAL immigrants in the country??? They steal our jobs, money( in the form of welfare, healthcare and education)and we don't prosecute them. I was shocked at Donaldson's reaction.

We must have enemies in order to keep the money flowing, and to continue to rape the resources of other countries. S0, they must complain.

We must have enemies in order to keep the money flowing, and to continue to rape the resources of other countries. S0, they must complain.

The heading says it all. "Bush-era torture policy". Torture? Please. What liberal wrote the headline? There was no "torture policy". There were enhanced interrogation techniques, but based off what has been released, these certainly do not qualify as "torture". Plus, they got information. The methods served their purpose and helped keep America safe. Disgusting headline that ABC has put on here as if it is accepted there was a "Bush-era torture policy".

I love how you scumbags throw the word torture around REMEMBER these people kill women and kids everyday of there lives if you were caught by them they would cut your head off on TV and make a show out of it so please calm down with your words on here because if you were captured you would want the president to USE all measures to get you back!

Emanuel is dead wrong. This decision will in itself harm America's image abroad and be used by al Qaeda and other anti-American groups as a rallying cry. The message it sends to the world is pretty clear:

Torture is a crime against humanity and should be prosecuted fiercely*.
(* This does not apply to American citizens and leaders in particular)

The image of America that has existed in anti-American circles for decades just got confirmed. Nice job.

Okay, I'll bite.

What then, was the purpose of releasing the report on Bush's torture policy/methods?

When talking about the terroists you are talking about people who chop heads off and they are appalled that we use waterboarding (3 people) with a physcian present?? Give me a break. The terrorist's can always find a reason to not like us - what was the reason under the Clinton Admin.?

Obama plans to use the same tactics, only secretly and does not want to be prosecuted in the future.

What are we doing? For each transgression against humanity we all suffer the consequences...have we not yet learned this? Why are we not holding our politicans accountable for their behavior?...their lack of moral conduct is killing the human spirit and destroying life. Think on this when we give them a pass to do whatever they want...with out responsibilty.

If your going to prosecute those doing what they were told to do and the policy makers you will have to go all the way up the ladder. Obama is right not to live in the past and to learn from it. Thats called intelligence. If he prosecuted it would cause devision more than we have. The important thing is he as now changed policy and banned torture in any form. His administration wants to look forward and start fresh and that is a good thing.

Sorry President Obama, but your shielding of Bush officials from prosecution is itself a criminal abuse of power. You have proven that there will be no accountability, ever. Contemptible.

OBAMA AND BUSH ARE ON THE SAME TEAM. THE LEFT/RIGHT THING IS A FARCE TO GET YOUR MIND OFF WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING. ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT...THE ONE WORLD NEW ORDER GLOBAL ELITISTS RUNNING THINGS...TRUTH...ALL THE PIECES FALL INTO PLACE. YOU WON'T FIND THE TRUTH ON ABC, CNN, FOX, ANY OF THEM. YOU WILL FIND THE TRUTH BY READING A LOT AND GETTING OFF THE MAINSTREAM ROAD. IT'S AN INFORMATION WAR. check out infowars or prison planet . com

If we don't prosecute we teach our children that some crimes don't carry punishment and that the upper class doesn't have to even worry about prosecution any more. We are setting ourselves up for more of the same in the future. The words ethics and principles are supposed to have meaning.

The headline should read: Obama Administration asserts that some people are above the law. Apparently we do not live in a democracy. This is utterly foul. The only excuse for this is political expediency. That's no excuse.