Posted by
EWRoss on Wednesday, July 15, 2009 7:00:00 AM
For a while it appeared that Democrats would resist the
overwhelming desire of those on the far left of their party to investigate
members of the George W. Bush administration, including the president, the vice
president, and the CIA. President Obama quickly realized what a bad idea that
was when he saw the reaction to his release of top secret Bush administration
memos on CIA interrogation techniques. He said he wanted to look forward, not
backward.
Apparently, however, the temptation has proven too great.
Now, Democrats want to investigate Cheney and the CIA over a statement by
current CIA Director Leon Panetta that Cheney directed the CIA not to brief
Congress on a program to assassinate al-Qaeda leaders after 9/11 that credible
sources say was never operationalized. At the same time, Attorney General Eric
Holder is seriously considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate
CIA personnel who may have gone “too far” in their interrogations of terrorist
detainees. Like all special prosecutors, once empowered, he won’t stop there.
Wise heads in both the Democratic and Republican parties
understand that pursuing these investigations might satisfy those who believe
Bush, Cheney, and many people in their administration are war criminals, but it
will do more damage to Democrats than to Republicans. Those who suffer from
Bush/Cheney-derangement syndrome already think that way. They don’t need an
investigation to confirm what they believe.
Fair-minded Americans, however, don’t what to see any US presidential
administration prosecute its predecessor for what amounts to policy and
political differences. President Obama is already losing airspeed and altitude with
his out-of-control spending that isn’t curbing unemployment. Investigations of
Bush, Cheney, and the CIA will only drive his approval numbers lower and lose
more seats for Democrats in the House and Senate in 2010.
Read my weekly columns
and my current daily comment at http://ewross.com
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