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Cheney and Manning: A Modest Proposal
By Henry Farrell
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On the one side of the balance sheet, we have Richard B. Cheney. This gentleman, now in private life, is a self-admitted and unrepentant perpetrator of war crimes specifically, of ordering the torture of Al Qaeda detainees. Along with other senior members of the Bush regime, he is also guilty of the outsourcing of even viler forms of torture through the extraordinary rendition of individuals to regimes notorious for torturing prisoners (including the dispatch of Maher Arar, who was entirely innocent, to the torturers of Syria). The Obama administration has shown no enthusiasm whatsoever for prosecuting Cheney, or other Bush senior officials, for their crimes. While Obama has effectively admitted that they were torturers, he has indicated, both through public statements and continued inaction, that he would prefer to let bygones be bygones.
On the other, we have Bradley Manning. He appears to be a confused individual but his initial motivation for leaking information, if the transcripts are correct, were perfectly clear. He was appalled at what he saw as major abuses of authority by the US, including incidents that he witnessed directly in Iraq. There is no evidence that his leaking of information has caused anything worse than embarrassment for the US. Yet he is being pursued by the Obama administration with the vengefulness of Greek Furies. While Manning was being kept in solitary confinement, and treated in an inhuman fashion, Richard Cheney was enjoying the manifold pleasures of a well-compensated private life, being subjected to no more than the occasional impertinent question on a Sunday talk show, and the inconveniences of being unable to travel to jurisdictions where he might be arrested.
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So heres my proposal. Its perfectly clear that Richard B. Cheney will never be prosecuted because a prosecution would be politically inconvenient. If thats the Obama administrations decision (and its pretty clear that it is the Obama administrations decision), then the administration should own it. The president should grant Richard Cheney a pardon for his crimes. Simultaneously, as an acknowledgement that the high crimes of state officials should not go unpunished while the lesser crimes of those who opposed the Iraq war are exposed to the vengefulness of the military tribunal system, Bradley Manning should receive a complete pardon too.
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the rest:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/03/cheney_and_manning_a_modest_pr036024.php
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)Own it Mr. O.
cindyperry2010
(846 posts)rather see him water boarded personally but that is just me
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)It is possible to issue pardons, where the person pardoned must do certain things prior to receiving them. Restitution is an example. He could issue pardons to Cheney, but they can only be exercised if Cheney does some things, such as admission of guilt, or providing testimony and cooperating with prosecutors.
Best of both worlds. He labels what they did a crime. And they'll never actually admit guilt, so they won't be off any hooks. Even better, there's not thing one that Cheney, or Congress or the courts can do about it.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)He and his henchmen have already received a de facto pardon because we're all about lookin' forward to the future instead of lookin' backwards to the past. We could argue all day long about who committed war crimes, but the truth of the matter is that Dick Cheney's pretty doggone mad, too. So why don't we all just say that mistakes were made, move ahead.
There. All better now.
corkhead
(6,119 posts)..."If Adolph Hitler
Flew in today,
They'd send a limousine
Anyway"...
White Man in Hammersmith Palais - The Clash