Summing up – Obama torture memo indecision
The Bush administration torture memos were released last Thursday, and for those of you who want to follow the Obama administration’s bouncing ball, here we go.
On Thursday, Obama elected not to fight the release of the memos and stated he wanted to move beyond “a dark and painful chapter in our history.” It was done. CIA officials would not be prosecuted.
On Friday and Saturday, former CIA directors – including current director Leon Panetta – renew their objections to the release of the memos. The release of these memos would compromise future intelligence operations.
Administration spokespersons – but nobody from Obama’s intelligence staff – heads out to the Sunday morning talk shows to tell everyone that this is a good thing for America. Rahm Emanuel states, my emphasis added.
Asked if Obama believes that those who devised the policies should be prosecuted, Emanuel said “no“:
“Yes, but those who devised policy, he believes that they were — should not be prosecuted either, and that’s not the place that we go — as he said in that letter, and I would really recommend people look at the full statement — not the letter, the statement –in that second paragraph, “this is not a time for retribution.” It’s time for reflection. It’s not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back and any sense of anger and retribution.
Obama runs over to the CIA to shake some hands on Monday. Panetta lets them know that they can all still succeed at their job.
The White House sought to show that it is leaving the past behind by announcing that no CIA agents would be prosecuted for interrogations sanctioned under the Bush administration. Obama’s advisors also have suggested that the highest-level officials who authorized the practices will be immune.
On Monday night, former Vice President Dick Cheney calls for other memos to be released. They would show what intelligence was gathered and how well it worked to save American lives. Later that night, left wing groups are expressing their dissatisfaction that Cheney would not have a date with a firing squad.
By Tuesday, Obama had changed his mind.
“With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that is going to be more a decision for the attorney general within the parameter of various laws, and I don’t want to prejudge that,” Obama said during a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House.
Today – Wednesday – nobody knows what he’s gonna do next. Do readers understand how this is a clear example that Obama does not have the executive experience to run the Executive Branch of the greatest country in the world? They have no idea what they are doing.
Even if you simply describe these differences as some “mixed messages” instead of expired promises, that still shows how clueless this bunch is.
Hey – Jim’s got more posted just four hours ago with video.
6 Comments
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Kinda missing Bush's "stay the course" nowadays… Obama just keeps drifting, tacking back and forth, on course only for an eventual crash.
I said this in the "Game On" post and I will say it again, I have seen our government do things in the last six months that never would have predicted. I can't imagine that this administration would or could do this, but I worry! And what worries me more is the terrorists are watching all of this and laughing all the way to their training camps. Ughh!!
MAYBE, just maybe, Obama had a moment of common sense. How can he argue againg waterboarding when he condones partial birth abortions?
I used to think that Clinton's predilection for wetting his finger and sticking it up to see which way the political winds were blowing was problematic, but Obambi's course of action is going to leave the country twisting in those same political winds.
Great post, Steve. Yet another example of "hope and change". "I hope this works, but, if it doesn't, I'll change my mind".