Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: McClatchy Tribune [Click to enlarge]

Last month, President Barack Obama's administration released four George W. Bush-era CIA memos that gave legal justification for harsh interrogation practices. Since then, the public has been divided on the prospect of trying the individuals who perpetrated these acts as criminals.

Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have said that the CIA agents who used techniques like water-boarding against alleged terrorists will not be prosecuted. However, Obama and Holder said last week that the Department of Justice may go after high-ranking Bush administration officials for authorizing these tactics.

Rather than prosecuting these individuals, which we assume would include former President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, The State Hornet would like to see the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, effective immediately.

The use of harsh interrogation techniques - or torture, depending on how you view it - is just one example of the abuses perpetrated by the Bush administration.

In order for us to move forward, the American people need to know the entire scope of what was done in our name, during what may well go down as one of the darkest periods in American history.

The Hornet realizes some of the justifications for not prosecuting CIA operatives. It is the converse of the precedent established at the Nuremburg Trials following World War II that said "following orders" is not a defense. The Abu Ghraib scandal notwithstanding, if these CIA agents were to be prosecuted, it would be incumbent upon the Obama administration to also try those who issued the orders.

There are pragmatic reasons for not trying former presidents for the decisions they made while in office. The first is that it is one of the ways we have been able to ensure a peaceful transition of power, which has been a hallmark of our republic. Second, these types of trials often go nowhere with the highest-ranking officials - including the president - suddenly being afflicted with amnesia.

The abuses of the Bush administration went far beyond authorizing torture as "enhanced interrogation." Piecemeal prosecutions for every instance of abuse of our democratic process will take years, bog down the Justice Department and will ultimately accomplish very little.

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