Obama's embrace of the former president's program -- lying to Congress about the grounds for war, wiretapping Americans, and conspiring to torture -- might explain his reluctance to allow the enforcement of laws against his predecessor.In her new book, "Cheating Justice: How Bush and Cheney Attacked the Rule of Law and Plotted to Avoid Prosecution -- and What We Can Do About It," Elizabeth Holtzman identifies charges that would stick in holding these war criminals accountable and concludes that charges of torture have no expiration. But she chooses to overlook the current administration's duty to investigate and prosecute past crimes and turns a blind eye to the continuation, even expansion, of the illegal policies of the Bush regime.
David Swanson calls the author to task, noting: it is the Democratic switch to defending all presidential wrongdoing since 2008 that has put the largest nails into the coffin of legitimate rule by law in this country. Bush's crimes have been legitimized. Obama has claimed the power to torture as he deems necessary, the power to imprison and rendition as he sees fit, the power to murder any human being including U.S. citizens and children as he and he alone declares necessary, and powers of state secrecy that Nixon and Cheney never dreamed of...
