Executive Power, Ctd.
From Alex Matthews, in response to the Ben Smith article linked to below:
Obviously, the huge question looming at 12:01 pm on Jan 20th will be this: Will Obama’s administration investigate war crimes perpetrated by the previous administration? Will he prosecute? We’ve been put into a tight spot. Nevermind the moral arguments like how do we launch wars to protect the rule of law against dictatorship and then allow for massive human rights violations? Ends justify the means? Huh?
Focus just on the fact that we have endangered our own citizens abroad. This is not a hypothetical — Emmanuel Zeltser (http://www.saveemanuelzeltser.com/) was recently detained by the Russians in Belarus and has been held and tortured without being charged with a crime. The circumstances surrounding the case are fascinating, but in a delightfully sick ironic twist, his case is being brought before the UN Human Rights Committee. This is the very same committee that has been repeatedly rebuffed by our government while trying to investigate our own detention programs. Several prosecutors worldwide have vowed to take Gitmo cases before the international war crimes court.
This thing is going to get ugly on day one. I honestly don’t see any good way out of the mess for Obama, and it could hinder virtually every aspect of foreign policy for the next decade. It is the definition of a lose-lose political issue, and legally, it isn’t much clearer. This is what happens when the rule of law is jettisoned in the name of national security. From Julius Caesar to Vladimir Lenin to George W. Bush, the tape plays on. These aren’t bad guys; just poor students of history.
