This Bothers Me

This bothers me a whole lot:

Barack Obama's incoming administration is unlikely to bring criminal charges against government officials who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists during the George W. Bush presidency. Obama, who has criticized the use of torture, is being urged by some constitutional scholars and human rights groups to investigate possible war crimes by the Bush administration.

Two Obama advisers said there's little - if any - chance that the incoming president's Justice Department will go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provoked worldwide outrage.

This is something that I was afraid of, and I suspect the arguments against investigating are more political than anything else: I'm not sure that the primary consideration is anything other than that fusillade of accusations from the right if the Obama administration actually does anything to hold those responsible for these outrages accountable. Frankly, I think it might be a useful bait: the ones who are going to scream the loudest are the ones who are going to be doing whatever they can to torpedo Obama anyway, so give them this to worry about. Maybe that will leave some maeuvering room to actually accomplish something.

There's also the fact that this is another recitation of the "let's forget the past and move on" mantra. Again, this is something that the right is very devoted to right now, although they have been the first to demand accountability from everyone else. I suspect that the establishment Democrats are not all that averse to joining the chorus, because they are almost equally culpable, in this area, at least.

It's also too much of a piece with the stance taken by the anti-gay right when facing the backlash against Proposition 8: suddenly, we must respect the law of the land and let it stand, and not infringe on their inalienable rights by protesting the fact that they have taken ours away through a campaign of lies and deception to overturn the law of the land.

And let us not forget the telecom immunity issue, another piece of the pattern, and one that will, unfortunately, most likely be allowed to stand.

Do you get the idea that the right wing in this country just wants to do whatever it wants and not be bothered by actually having to take responsibility for it? Or that it's not limited to the right wing, since the Washington establishment has been singing along?

OK -- let's call this a "trial balloon" and make the only appropriate response: No Way!

Update: Hilzoy has has some thoughts on this issue that, strangely enough, are very close to mine.

This is a big mistake. It is enormously important that we establish the principle that members of the government cannot break the law with impunity, and we cannot do that without being willing to prosecute them when, as in this case, there is overwhelming evidence that they violated the law. This is especially true of the most senior members of government, like the Vice President.

That said, I can easily see why Obama might not want to do this. The problem isn't just that it would be bad for him to be seen as carrying out a partisan witch hunt; it would also be bad for the law, and for these prosecutions, if they were seen as a partisan witch hunt.

And you can bet there are any number of voices in the right that will do their best to make it look as bad as possible. (The comments to this post are instructive; I recommend that you read them.)