Rahm Emanuel: Bush Officials, CIA Interrogators Will Not Be Prosecuted
Meanwhile, on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the Obama administration opposes any effort to prosecute CIA interrogators who engaged in torture, as well Bush administration officials who authorized the use of torture. Rahm made the comment in an interview on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

Rahm Emanuel: “He believes that people in good faith were operating with the guidance they were provided. They shouldn’t be prosecuted.”

George Stephanopolous: “But what about those who devised the policy?”

Rahm Emanuel: “Yeah, but those who devised the policy, he believes that they were—should not be prosecuted either. And it’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 is not a time to use our energy and our time in looking back and in a sense of anger and retribution.’”


so, why don't we just free all the prisoners? for, if this is not a time for retribution, and if it's not a time for looking back in anger, why are we prosecuting street criminals and throwing them in jail? dig it, if you were just following orders, you shouldn't be prosecuted, and if you were giving the orders, you shouldn't be prosecuted either. for, you see, everyone was acting in good faith. but doesn't everyone always act in good faith? who thinks of themselves as committing crimes as they are doing so? and where are all the folks who were convinced that change had come to washington? where are the people who wept tears of joy when obama achieved victory? are they angry about this? or is it all just a football game, and now that the home team has won, we get to go home?

this exchange is really quite incredible. i don't think emanuel was ready for the second question. it was like he only had one answer in him. he had the following orders bit down, but he hadn't thought of what to say about those who were giving them the orders to follow, ie, those in power. it's as if the very idea of those guys being punished was so incredible to him as to not even be thought of.

you gotta hate continuity.