Torture
So we should defacto pardon low-level officials/guards who did this?
Clearly they knew that they’d soon not be able to torture prisoners-they either wanted to destroy the evidence that they did by incapacitating or killing their victims and/or have sadistic pleasure in the practice. Such people should suffer no repercussions? Seriously?
Not to mention that one of the major authors of the legal justification for torture, Jay Bybee, is still a sitting federal judge. (Although under investigation.)
Obama called for reflection, not retribution. I agree that reflection is a necessary part of not letting this happen again, but I also feel that accountability is a crucial step to cleansing our justice system and international reputation. Our governments’s very legitamacy as a negotiator in tense situations is undermined by these acts-for example, the interaction in recent North Korean detainment of two American journalists. We can’t keep the policy of American exceptionalism going, or we take steps to becoming more like that which we abhore.
Listening to Democracy Now while I wake up and get ready for work may not be the best idea for managing anger. ;P