President Holds Open Door For Prosecutions of Bush Officials For Interrogation Policies, Truth Commission

If any one needs investigated, iTs obama.I have no faith or trust in this lieing piece of garbage.No one could trust him. Any person that buries his past, is definantly a lier,a cheat,and a very smart con-artist.In my opinion, I see no future for our country untill this man is out of office and put behind us.

I do not understand that there is no discussion of the many innocent people we tortured. This was not confined to a handful of top Al-Queda operatives but was widespread and went beyond even the listed techniques listed in the memos. Patrick Quinn wrote an article for AP on 9/18/06 where he listed 800 investigations of mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of 2/06 at least 98 people had died in our custody and 34 for those were ruled homicides. I would like to see any memos that justify killing people.

Now that the Bush-Cheney Gang is out of power, they can no longer use "War on Terror", "National Security" or even "Global Economy" to cover-up their corruption. Nobody is above the law... Prosecute the Criminals!

I admire Obama's stance against torture. Remember folks, all the good info was talked out of the two top Al Queda men before they were tortured. They waterboarded them hundreds of times for nothing. McCain and others who have been tortured, as well as experts at interrogation, say that info gathered from torture is unreliable. We should continue to follow the wisdom of the Geneva Convention when it comes to interrogation.
Are the believers in torture listening to the experts or honestly wanting justification to punish these guys in a sadistic manner? Our morals should not be left behind or we will be no better than the terrorists.

Looks like this administration is trying to take the high road by turning loose this Bush-era tactics but they are being dragged back in the muck by the faithful.

It reminds me of Michael Corleone in the Godfather III: "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."

Of course, Obama is not stupid - forget dragging this country through a legal confessional about the Bush administration the fact is that Obama's guys need to be wide open about what they could be forced to do is this new foreign policy does not produce the results they expect. What if some major attack happens and they are forced to squeeze some information out of some terrorist they capture? What if they made one of their own detainees stay up past their bedtime and someone called 911? There is simply not enough lipstick for that pig. This President is politically savvy in a lot of ways - he needs to leave his options open just in case the proverbial ca-ca his the even more proverbial fan.

I don't feel safe under the Obama Administration about the National Security. If we do get attack, it going to be Obama's fault. Remember, it is not going to be Bush's fault. Obama keep change all kind of things so that we feel safe under him. Obama has a poor National Security advisers like he appointed Dennis Blair (don't know about this guy) and DHS Janet Napolitano. They are the worse thing in our history. I really don't feel safe with them now. They have a lack of inexperience,leadership, and can't be trusted.

earth_not_flat: First, your definition of torture must be far different than mine, so your comment is questionable on that basis. Second, would it be more civilized to lose our way of life than do what is necessary to achieve victory? If we could achieve victory by sweet talking the enemy into giving up, I am all for it. Reality tells me that if we put your "civilized" approach above success, you have defeated your own cause. I doubt many Americans will accept heavy civilian casualties here in the U.S., just to say we were the nice guys. I don't agree we should make torture legal, but many previous administrations allowed it during every major campaign (including "good wars" like World War II and "bad wars" like Vietnam, but FDR, LBJ and Nixon, were never prosecuted for it...why not? I say, be civil when you can, but do what is necessary to win, or at least give the enemy the perception that the "possibility" exists that we could use tough interrogation methods. Taking that off the table is the biggest mistake and we will pay for it.

The memos were released because of the Freedom of Information Act. It seems like a certain paranoid group thinks it's some kind of Obama game and their conspiracy radar has activated even stronger than their homophobic alarm when they walked into a gay wedding reception at the local Holiday Inn on Saturday night.

What total bull cr@p. How about rounding up all of the 75-90 year old OSS agents that helped win World War II and all of the CIA operatives who may have had to resort to some unsavory actions to win the Cold War? Get real people. The non-injurious and non-fatal water boarding that occurred warded off more harm to our nation than you will ever know. Don't think for even a second than it wouldn't be done by the Obama Administration or any future administration if another 9/11 attack or an imminent and catastrophic nuclear strike were discovered. So, grow up and get real.

Ryan_c, You use the term astroturfing to refer to fox coverage of the April 15 tea parties. You know full well that Fox did not astroturf the movement. Fox jumped on after the fact, as the movement showed clear signs of strength, and tried to use favorable coverage of the movement for their own ratings agenda. I wish Hannity and Beck had stayed clear of the tea parties, but they are not reporters, but personalities, like Olbermann or Maddow. And no, I have not seen Olby or Maddow showing up to participate in antiwar protests during the bush years. The coverage of the tea party protests by (pro) Cavuto and (anti) Sanchez are a gray area that does disturb me as well. But there is no astroturfing here-- Fox's support of the parties was very public and was not instrumental in the organization of the movement. Fox was riding on the coattails of the grassroots movement, not the other way around.

Hallelujah, they do listen at 1600 Pennsylvanian Ave!

We ARE still a nation of laws!

It WILL be a painful process, but discovery often is.

Shine the light brightly in every corner, ferret out ALL that resides in the darkness.

Let the truth hold the self evident and righteous beliefs we have founded this country on, carry the light of day, where ever this needs to go.

We must NEVER allow this type of self effacing self diminishing, self destructive, "justification" happen again.

YES, we ARE all about defending our great nation. AND we can do so with the power of light and justice guiding our way!

That has to be the world record flip flop.....less than 24 hours.

Earth_not_flat said "and to that i say, let the judge decide!!" To this I say no way. Don't trust nor believe in our judicial system. Which judges are you going to let decide, 9th circuit, 11th, 5th.... you see you get different opinions. Face it, we are a divided country. Just because a court rules, a law is made, does not mean it is true or just. Live free and watch Braveheart.

fieldon2 - I see the logic in your statement "future Presidents will issue blanket pardons for anyone that serves in their administration upon leaving office!" That is true of someone convicted, but I don't think the President can pardon someone of a future charge that will come about after the President leaves office. However, I am not certain.

those of you bush/cheney apologist, you just can't have it both ways... either you are defending torture as something that should be legal (most of you here are doing) OR you are saying what was done was NOT torture (what bush/cheney people are saying to cover their buttts)... the funny thing is, the reason you are saying it's OK to torture is because you are basically ADMITTING what was done would fall under the definition of torture... how ironic that bush & cheney will NEVER admit what was done was torture, and they will ALWAYS say that torture is rightfully ILLEGAL... so basically, you are in a big disagreement with those you defend. Why is this? because the overwhelming majority of people will never allow torture to be legal because it is wrong and doesnt work... but keep on saying stupid things like "well they did it so we can" or saying its ok to torture because once this goes to trial and cheney is defining what the word "is" is when it comes to torture, you will be backpedaling and saying 'it really isn't torture'... and to that i say, let the judge decide!!

Donnie - so are you saying we should makke torture legal?

Donnie - "Going back and charging CIA members or Special Forces for the things they do to keep us a free nation is detramental." I don't think that is who Obama is after. I think he is after the people who said it was legal. I absolutely agree that it would be totally wrong to charge CIA and Special Forces for following orders.

cg - "terrorists now know obama is weak." How do they know that? They also thought our military was weak but that was wrong. They thought they could hold Afganistan, but could not until we took are troops to Iraq. Sounds like it doesn't matter what they think. And you said if we caught them, Obama would" just get tea and crumpets...no water snorts up the nose." That seemed to work in WWII. Bush was first president to use water snorts, so all those previous presidents must have know nothing about how to get information about our enemies. Is that correct?

I have never gotten into politics before, but this is crazy. The U.S. as we know it will be no more. The U.S. is slowly going down hill. More and more people want to turn the other cheek and let things like this happen. We built this nation on sacrifices. Going back and charging CIA members or Special Forces for the things they do to keep us a free nation is detramental. It will show us as being a weak nation. There are thousands of people who are here for a better way of life and are doing well. Closing the borders would stop all of this. If you are not a US citizen get out. Every country in the world demands that you abide by the laws they have. We as a Nation is always worried about offending someone from another country. This is our country and the people need to defend it as such. If we don't defend it who will. They have several predictions that the end of the world; we will have one world leader. Is this the beginning?? I do believe in change, but giving away my rights as a free nation is sure not one of them. These other countries will do everything necessary to defend and protect their nation. Why is it so bad for us to do the same. You ask the POW's what they had to endure. The Geneva convention is For us. In a war situation, other countries will torture, and kill, to get any information they need. It could be your family member tortured or killed. Do you think your minds would change then on how we defend our nation?

If Bush Cabinet Members are brought to trial ALL current and future Presidents will issue blanket pardons for anyone that serves in their administration upon leaving office !