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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Bush preparing blanket pardons to avoid prosecutions under an Obama justice department

From Salon.com comes the word that:

With growing talk in Washington that President Bush may be considering an unprecedented “blanket pardon” for people involved in his administration’s brutal interrogation policies, advisors to Barack Obama are pressing ahead with plans for a nonpartisan commission to investigate alleged abuses under Bush.

To be honest, I’m a bit surprised.  

For a fella who claimed that they couldn’t be held accountable, that the rules just simply didn’t apply, and that the executive branch wasn’t liable, this would be tantamount to admitting that maybe, just maybe, that the Administration wasn’t so sure about their legal standing.

You know, with a Constitutional lawyer about to come into office, and everything.

Sort of makes you wonder if they wished they’d consulted one or two a few years ago. Personally, I think Dubya realizes which one of these two he is:

Not all is lost, of course. As I understand it, if blanket immunity was granted via pardon, then anybody covered under it will not be able to claim 5th amendment privileges to keep quiet about their crimes. If they refuse to speak or if they lie under oath, they can face some lengthy jail sentences. And there are legal ways around getting at members of the Bush Administration, but it’s up to whether or not President Obama wants to send the political capital and hardwork with going after them. Given the spirit of post-partisanship he’s been espousing, I doubt it.

Sucks, but I don’t know what more we could do.


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/ 7 Comments

7 comments

  2. spacemanspiff

    Ok. I never thought Chimpy would surprise me again, but he did.

    Cheney and the crew have to face the music for all the stunts they pulled.

  3. John Allen

    Only one problem with that from his viewpoint. Who’s going to pardon him? Will he step down on his last day in office so Cheney can become acting president and pardon W?

  4. NavyBlueWife

    Even if a blanket immunity were granted, going after them is part of the democratic process of holding our elected officials accountable.  Sure, the right would portray it as partisanship, but I want transparency in government.  I hope that Obama does more to create transparency in government, and I also think that he could do it in a way that would not spend political capital.  It’s hard to correct abuses and provide protection against future abuses if we don’t fully understand what happened.  Now, of course, it would require balancing, like anything else.  We don’t want to impede progress, but a little sunshine in dark places can do more for progress than washing our hands of it all.

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