Since the release of the CIA report, Andrew Sullivan has been ranting about President Obama being a coward for not going after Bush, Cheney and the rest of the old NeoCon guard and prosecuting them for war crimes. Sullivan is completely right in wanting the President to bring charges against those who have tarnished the reputation and moral high ground of our country. However, I do not blame the president. President Obama has made it crystal clear many times before; he wants the American public to push him to do things.
There lies the problem. As Sullivan himself pointed out in his blog, there has only been growing support for the use of torture, to the point that those who believe torture is justified trumps the numbers of those who believe it is never justified. A lot of the American public has lost its way, or have been seduced by the likes of FOX news and the ever growing number of television shows that glorify the use of torture in interrogations as integral to police and government agencies in thwarting terrorism and, at this point, all types of crimes. 24 was at the inception and the fallacy of torture as a means to glean useful data even made it into a dramatized version of the events that led to the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden. When all the evidence from the CIA itself, point otherwise.
Until this point in his presidency, any action Obama would have taken against the previous administration would not just be painted as political and partisan, it would have likely torn the country apart and would have left no room for any progress. Helping the economy out of depression territory, passing the Affordable Care Act, getting Osama Bin Laden, withdrawing from Iraq (though one could argue his hand was forced by the armistice agreement put in place by George Bush before resigning), drawing down troops in Afghanistan, and yes, I would even add securing his second term, may not have come about had he pursued prosecution. With the release of the report, Obama now has some cover to do something, but still not enough. He needs the country to coalesce around the idea that these acts by a somewhat rogue CIA under a previous President who perhaps did not want to know the full extent of what was going on, and a Vice President who knew it all and is proud of it, were in fact terrible atrocities that someone needs to answer for lest we completely lose the respect of the world and stay a nation that believes it is above the treaties it signs. We need other senators and congressman from both parties, but especially Republicans, to not only join John Mccain in his denouncing the torture laid out in the report, but to ask the administration, and in many ways, give the present administration the political cover to begin the steps to bring charges against them. We need the American public to look past political tribalism and put pressure on their elected representatives, and in turn their president, to do what we know is right.
Unfortunately, does anyone believe that this could happen when so many now believe torture is not a big deal and that it was necessary, even if the CIA's own papers reveal that it did not help the intelligence community at all. Unfortunately, I feel that President Obama still has to much faith in the American people to do the right thing. Unfortunately, this country is becoming a shell of its former self. Should the President act alone if we as a country do not push him into it? Yes. But boy what a mess that would be.
