“Our fathers sinned, and are no more; It is we who have borne their iniquities.”
Lamentations 5:7
Today it was announced that one of the architects of Bush’s torture policy, Jose Rodriquez1, is being considered for head of the CIA in the Trump administration. Waterboarding is considered illegal by the UN and most nations and yet we may have it returned to the CIA arsenal.
During the first days of the Obama Administration I thoroughly expected an investigation to be called for to bring to justice Bush and Co for their lies and deceit in the run up to the Iraq War and for the runaway spending that gave us a HUGE deficit along with the untold numbers of Americans dead and injured not to speak of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Bush and Co pushed the limits of Presidential power but Obama did nothing to rein it in. Obama saw a much divided nation and wanted to mend fences between the parties. Commendable, maybe? Litigation and investigation was NOT on the table and we will be reaping this lack of oversight with the Trump administration and extreme policies.
To me, this was always a serious tactical mistake. Our example of holding officials accountable is found with what happened with Watergate2. Democrats AND Republicans came together setting aside partisan politics for the investigation. Why, because they considered upholding the Constitution and its tenants more important to the health of the country than holding onto their partisan turf, taking the high road even at a cost. Watergate and its operatives were investigated and tried. Many in the administration went to jail, Nixon resigned and laws were created and passed to try and avoid these excesses of power in the future. This legacy made it much more difficult to play the same game again and allowed the wounds inflicted on the country to heal. If Obama had heeded history he would have at least had an investigation. But he and Eric Holder turned the other cheek and didn’t, so today we have the distinct possibility that we will reap what we sowed. The Constitution should ALWAYS trump partisan politics, ALWAYS!
1 https://theintercept.com/2016/11/11/trump-cia-torture/
2 http://billmoyers.com/2013/03/29/watergate%E2%80%99s-lessons-washed-away/