Dodd: We prosecuted the Nazis so let’s prosecute Bush
posted at 4:40 pm on May 4, 2009 by Allahpundit
Via Moe Lane. No, he’s not saying that waterboarding terrorists is as evil as genocide, but he does seem to be saying that both are sufficiently evil as to require prosecution. I’d be curious to know how and where he draws the line on prosecutorial discretion, then: When is something so “evil” that we must proceed to trial, damn the policy consequences? David Shribman wonders:
The pre-eminent point here is that in the United States, sitting presidents and winning political parties don’t sit in legal judgment of their predecessors. If they do not like their policies, and many times they do not, they change policies. They do not sue their predecessors nor seek to punish them legally. This custom has prevailed in times of severe crisis as much as in serene times.
There are myriad examples. Jimmy Carter did not seek to prosecute Henry A. Kissinger for complicity in the invasion of Cambodia and involvement in Chile, two actions that might be regarded as peculiarly subject to legal review. Richard M. Nixon did not seek to prosecute Lyndon B. Johnson for the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King’s bathroom and bedroom, which King did not know about until Thurgood Marshall informed him in 1964. Nor did Nixon take any action about the illegal taping of White House conversations in the Johnson years.
VDH adds some perspective:
I’ve raised this example twice now. But, really, how is waterboarding a known detained terrorist like Khalid Sheik Mohammed (who confessed to cutting off Daniel Pearl’s head [with two knives after the first went dull], and to planning the 9/11 mass murder) at Guantanamo considered a war crime, while blowing up with a Predator drone suspected terrorists (and all those, including women and children, in their general vicinity) not?
The latter victims were not given habeas corpus, and Miranda rights, and there is a greater doubt about their guilt from 10,000 feet than is the case with the much studied psychopath KSM in Guantanamo. Most suspects would prefer to be water-boarded than vaporized? Ditto the Somali pirates, whose heads were blown off during their apparent attempts at negotiating extortion, again a bit more drastic than waterboarding. Would a future President Sanford or Giuliani be right to bring charges against those in the Obama administration who green lighted assassinations of suspected terrorists—something akin to the Phoenix program in Vietnam?
It’s the Jon Stewart/Harry Truman dilemma again: When is it wrong to inflict suffering on captives in hopes of averting greater suffering later? Why do we need a Nuremberg for waterboarders but not one for drone operators who occasionally incinerate Pakistani families based on bad intel?
Below the Dodd clip, a little further perspective from Coulter on the left’s insufferable sanctimony on this subject.
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Whistle-blowers, beware. Big brother is watching you.
The Rogue Tomato on May 21, 2013 at 7:23 PM
And yet a troop of them can still be seen marching into the West Wing today in order to receive their marching orders. Pathetic.
WitchDoctor on May 21, 2013 at 7:24 PM
drip, drip, drip.
myiq2xu on May 21, 2013 at 7:25 PM
“These DOJ folks were Bush appointees, so it’s not Obama’s fault.”
-Libs
portlandon on May 21, 2013 at 7:26 PM
Um, this scandal gets bigger by the hour.
Everyone is reporting on this now.
And the IRS
And Benghazi
dogsoldier on May 21, 2013 at 7:26 PM
http://twitchy.com/2013/05/21/outrageous-did-justice-department-seize-phone-records-of-james-rosens-parents/
Outrageous: Did Justice Department seize phone records of James Rosen’s parents?
Mark1971 on May 21, 2013 at 7:29 PM
I haven’t seen the tipping point yet.
The left is still standing behind their rat-eared coward.
There may be a lot of casualties but it will not reach into the inner circle of the West Wing. The rat-eared bastard apparently is far too important to care about the running of the Executive Branch of government.
Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 7:30 PM
The funny thing is none of this surprises me. We all knew what he was before he got elected the first time.
Now the world is just catching up.
gophergirl on May 21, 2013 at 7:30 PM
They are looking for a leaker from within…..
they’re paranoid.
ted c on May 21, 2013 at 7:32 PM
It is VERY VERY possible he (OBAMA) knew about it all along.
Notice how one person has been remarkably silent on all the Obama scandals?
Joe Biden.
PappyD61 on May 21, 2013 at 7:32 PM
Wow, this is strangely reminiscent of a Secret Police operation from East Germany or sumptin!
D-fusit on May 21, 2013 at 7:32 PM
Yes, Fox News noted this evening that Eric Withholder also seized phone records from James Rosen’s parents’ home.
slickwillie2001 on May 21, 2013 at 7:32 PM
Can the same accusation apply to IRS thugs who leaked info about Romney’s and Koch Brothers’ taxes?
burrata on May 21, 2013 at 7:33 PM
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:33 PM
That’s what you find outrageous?
How about a reporter being named a co-conspirator (as in he was seeking to give classified information to the enemy)? The only reason the rest of this crap happened is because the DoJ declared that Rosen was in collusion with his sources to reveal classified information.
Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 7:33 PM
Should have seen this coming. The most iconic artifact of his campaign is an affront to the fourth estate.
Capitalist Hog on May 21, 2013 at 7:33 PM
Joe Biden.
PappyD61 on May 21, 2013 at 7:32 PM
I noticed that Pappy.
I have meant to mention it.
I haven’t/heard/ seen a peep.
But I am missing so much.
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:33 PM
Pretty obvious Comrade O’s belligerent rhetoric directed at FOXnews was taken very seriously by some of his minions.
Dear Leader’s thin skin is making Nixon’s legendary thin skin look like rhinoceros hide.
farsighted on May 21, 2013 at 7:34 PM
In 2008 you would have been branded a racist for declaring that the Obama administration was this totalitarian. Ed Morrissey would have banned you from HA because you didn’t give the rat-eared bastard a chance to prove what a wonderful leader he is.
Five years later, things are a tad different.
Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 7:36 PM
They aren’t concerned about what the regime is doing to FOXnews. Most of them despise FOXnews.
They are concerned Dear Leader may be investigating them. And they are concerned their sources might clam up.
farsighted on May 21, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Agreed but there is a slight difference. Nixon’s thin skin was mostly about his policies. The rat-eared coward will not abide any criticism of him directly. If Nixon had that standard he would have died of a heart attack by the end of 1972.
Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 7:39 PM
You notice that, too?
In the 1963 James Bond movie From Russia with Love , the strategy of the criminal organization SPECTRE is compared to three Siamese fighting in the same tank: Two will fight each other to the death while the third will wait its turn to fight the exhausted victor, symbolizing the conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union, with SPECTRE as the fish that waits.
IlikedAUH2O on May 21, 2013 at 7:41 PM
Evil and insidious.
Rode Werk on May 21, 2013 at 7:41 PM
They probably have him locked up in the White House basement with duct tape over his mouth. I mean, if Biden knows ANYTHING, it will come out of his mouth at some point.
CJ on May 21, 2013 at 7:41 PM
DISCLAIMER: I am not in anyway suggesting that Rosen is a spy, merely bringing up the question for discussion, because I feel like the press has published a lot of stuff during other administrations that should have stayed under wraps (not everything, because sometimes the government has to be outed when they are just trying to cover-up political malfeasance with no national security import):
If a reporter publishes classified information and the enemy reads it, how is that substantively different from handing it over in secret?
The sources knew Rosen intended to reveal classified information, by publishing it; how is this not collusion?
AesopFan on May 21, 2013 at 7:43 PM
I agree. Everything that’s coming out now is completely consistent with everything Obama has done in the past.
INC on May 21, 2013 at 7:43 PM
I really agree with CJ. I just love the Siamese fighting fish strategy.
However, who really knows what goes on in Joe O’ Biden’s mind?
IlikedAUH2O on May 21, 2013 at 7:44 PM
Obama has done in the past.
INC on May 21, 2013 at 7:43 PM
Or insinuated..said.
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:45 PM
Update:
Bret Baier has now reported that in addition to records from James Rosen’s work phone, cell phone and email, the DOJ also seized the phone records of James Rosen’s parents.
Yes, his parents.
Zcat on May 21, 2013 at 7:46 PM
and they all laugh with the President at the Correspondents dinner.
rob verdi on May 21, 2013 at 7:47 PM
President Barack Obama told his supporters at a campaign rally – inside a public high school, no less – to vote for revenge! That definitely sounds like something the Rev. Jeremiah Wright would say, comparable to the infamous “Godd—- America” quote and other phrases that he delivered to his masses when Barack Obama was in the audience instead of standing before the masses delivering his own type of hate.
Never have Americans heard a president tell his constituents, just four days before a national presidential election, tell Americans: “Voting is the best revenge!”
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:49 PM
Ronald Machen’s name has come up before in some other leak cases hasn’t it..?
d1carter on May 21, 2013 at 7:49 PM
Best and potentially most lucrative job in America right now: Legal counsel to James Rosen. Hope he sues the shit out of them and, in the process, expose Holder and Obama for the tyrants that they are.
TXUS on May 21, 2013 at 7:49 PM
Is Ronald Machen the insulation for Eric Holder’s misdeeds..?
d1carter on May 21, 2013 at 7:51 PM
I thought he would be transformational, a new era for the country.
arnold ziffel on May 21, 2013 at 7:51 PM
Obama said this:
“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.“
Walk down memory lane…
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:52 PM
He is in remedial “oath of office” training.
hillsoftx on May 21, 2013 at 7:54 PM
Friends..awwww
Left-wing radical Bill Ayers, a longtime friend of President Barack Obama, recently defended the series of bombings that he carried out as a member of the Weather Underground, saying that his bombings were not like the Boston Marathon attack and that America is the most violent country that has ever been created.
Ayers has since served as a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has been a “family friend” to Obama, who previously lived in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, where Ayers and wife Bernadine Dohrn reside.
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:54 PM
Don’t see what the MSM is so concerned about. Barry just has Holder keeping his media whores in line.
GarandFan on May 21, 2013 at 7:54 PM
Keep burning those bridges Obama. One by one.
txhsmom on May 21, 2013 at 7:55 PM
Death by a 1000 cuts..
lets go. Slice~
bazil9 on May 21, 2013 at 7:56 PM
They no marchers.
They fluffers
burrata on May 21, 2013 at 7:56 PM
OT …
Did the senate just pass an amnesty bill ?
Lucano on May 21, 2013 at 7:59 PM
He’s a nice person, so said Mitt Romney. Gag.
SouthernGent on May 21, 2013 at 7:59 PM
He sits quietly on the balcony, shot gun at the ready.
Lily on May 21, 2013 at 8:00 PM
You’ve yet to prove that Rosen knew the information he was getting was classified. The traditional balance is to go out after the leaker and not the reporter. Rosen was named a co-conspirator so that differentiation was moot.
Are you really this stupid?
Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 8:05 PM
I remember when the government used to hunt down and kill enemies and leave the rest of us alone. They had this wild idea about a Bill of Rights.
They made mistakes, sure, like the incarceration of Japanese Americans and the genocide of American Indians. Racist? Well they sure fried tons of Germans!
And our old LEOs would have sized up the Marathon bomber gang pretty fast and quietly dumped them right back in the Jihad happy pastures from whence they came.
Now we have an alphabet of agencies, a crossword puzzle of issues and a world wide war going on with spending and strategy issues worthy of three dimensional chess.
We need a “reset” button, alright, but it ain’t the one Hillary made a mess of in Russia.
Repeal every law passed since 1928.
IlikedAUH2O on May 21, 2013 at 8:05 PM
Perhaps the WH can see that theyve made their most loyal lap dogs angry and fear losing their cover so theyve convened this little confab at the WH today to try and bolster their national security argument. These MSMers hate Fox News so that doesnt really bother them and Holder testified that the AP stuff was justified. Wonder if their bogus argument will appease the royal azz kissers in the MSM.
neyney on May 21, 2013 at 8:06 PM
Go check Supreme Court decisions on this, counselor.
IlikedAUH2O on May 21, 2013 at 8:06 PM
It may be a long time before elite East and West coast lefties support someone from Chicago for President again.
It must offend their sense of superior liberal propriety to see raw Chicago style thuggery and ham-handed bumbling incompetence on display now day after day after day. The Chicago Gang gets away with in Chicago because there is no political opposition, the local media is either cowed or fully on board worth the program, and the majority of the population is on the take in one way or another.
When it seemed to be working and no one knew about it the lib elites on the coasts loved it. Or at least they tolerated it. Things have changed.
farsighted on May 21, 2013 at 8:07 PM
What would it take to get Jarrett, under oath, in front of congress? I, like many here, suspect most of the current scandals lead through her and maybe even stop before it reaches her sock puppet in the west wing.
SteveInRTP on May 21, 2013 at 8:09 PM
fully on board
worthwithfarsighted on May 21, 2013 at 8:10 PM
Sorry, sir. I get nasty at times and don’t like it when I do.
I meant to say that reporter Rosen is exempt from charges by stare decisis of SCOTUS in numerous cases dating from the famous Pentagon Papers on and was free to accept classified materials and publish them.
IlikedAUH2O on May 21, 2013 at 8:11 PM
I’m really starting to wonder how Obama twists his way out this time. Regardless, his legacy is destroyed, as is any hope of any kind of meaningful legislation in his second term.
It’s over.
Fuhgeddaboudit.
Chris of Rights on May 21, 2013 at 8:13 PM
this is working out swimmingly for barry and the schumer gang. Remember, barry decided to bite the bullet on the IRS and AP stories themselves…timing was essential. Weeks of distractions.
Risky..yeah, but barry is a risk taker…he usually wins big with the help of his friends
Will this even make the news?
and btw, both Frum and Kristol are agin the bill. Who…aside from corporate lobbyists like Barbour..are for it?
the left is worried about the big impact on wages, while the corporations make big bucks off this…who is for it? Well, aside from Google and KFC…and the DNC who are counting their votes over the next generation?
this is just like barrycare…except that the prog Rs and their big buck donors love it.
r keller on May 21, 2013 at 8:18 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/22/us-usa-immigration-idUSBRE94K00L20130522?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637
r keller on May 21, 2013 at 8:19 PM
We are not there yet. But the slim window for meaningful legislation in a second term is quickly closing by all these hearings into his administration’s epic misconduct. The hearings this week were supposed to be about amnesty for the illegals or gay marriage. It was not supposed to be about abuse of power, curtailment of civil rights, or perjury by administration officials.
Happy Nomad on May 21, 2013 at 8:21 PM
This crew has never and will never give a rat’s a$$ about any of the amendments. Welcome to the start of the jackboot nation.
ghostwalker1 on May 21, 2013 at 8:23 PM
Valerie Jarrett is Keyser Soze.
can_con on May 21, 2013 at 8:27 PM
sorry to keep talking about immigration. the FT has a big article on what a big Win this was for Silicon Valley
basically, they do not have to offer jobs to Americans first…see? It is great…big rally tomorrow in the markets. More $$$$$$$ than they can count…and the poli-crooks will get their slice. Looks like mario and flake won the lottery!!!!! yay!!!!
/
r keller on May 21, 2013 at 8:33 PM
So, somebody should tell Maureen Dowd that while Gibbsy isn’t “reading” her, someone in the White House may very well be “listening” to her.
parke on May 21, 2013 at 8:43 PM
My stomach churns whenever this regime even MENTIONS leaks !!!
Ask SEAL Team Six.
Ask the doctor who helped them.
Ask …. shoot, surely we find so many others who’ve paid the price for zero’s arrogant BLARING of leaks !!!
SPIT !!!
pambi on May 21, 2013 at 8:58 PM
The media not liking it when their pimp starts tracking their every move?
And why not? The Chicago Big owns his press, they are just his whores turning tricks (stories with the AP/Reuters banner) for him.
Get used to getting beat up you media sluts.
….and just like the battered wife, they go back and want some more thumping so they’ll feel reassured.
PappyD61 on May 21, 2013 at 9:21 PM
I hope James Rosen and his parents show up on The Daily Show.
monalisa on May 21, 2013 at 9:28 PM
The Mooche
Schadenfreude on May 22, 2013 at 12:41 AM
I hope that Ailes and Murdoch put out any amount of millions to defend the freedom of all the press.
Every sane leftists should help, alas.
They are all tyrants, fascists, never liberal/progressive.
Schadenfreude on May 22, 2013 at 12:42 AM