To Prosecute or Not to Prosecute

I had written a piece about how Evolution doesn’t disprove the existence of God, but my friend Bill pointed out the holes in my logic, showing me I had taken on a much bigger topic than I could handle in a small blog. Thanks, Bill for your clarity.

So, instead I’ve decided to write about Torture. (A much smaller topic?) As a spiritual person I don’t like to label things “good” and “bad.” But Torture seems to be so obviously “wrong” on so many levels. It’s illegal, immoral and, according to some experts in the field of interrogation, pretty much useless.

I can’t deny that there’s a part of me that would relish seeing Bush and Cheney go down for something. After all the ways they abused the American people, caring more for the have-mores and stepping over the Rule of Law whenever they pleased, getting us into a war under false pretenses . . . It seems like, if they were prosecuted and did time, it would go a step further in preventing other administrations from torturing ever again. But I don’t know if there’s a guarantee of that.

Frankly, it could well become a witch hunt, as I am not the only person in this country who would enjoy getting some Justice. But what would be the cost of that Justice? Justice, while a splendid concept, in practice, is not always about what’s Right.

Matt Taibbi, author and contributing editor for Rolling Stone Magazine, said on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” that prosecuting these upper level people would “suck all the air out of the room.” It would take away attention from all that Obama wants to do. Healthcare, Energy and Education are big initiatives. He’s not likely to get anyone to listen if Bush and Cheney are on the chopping block. Maybe later, in his second term, when things have calmed down in this country and we’re on a better path, maybe then we can consider an investigation to set the record straight and tell the truth for posterity. Doing that might offer some healing and make others think twice about doing it again. If we push this now, though, we may not get all the wonderful things on President Obama’s agenda.

There are no “little guys” to protect, as Cheney would have us believe. The little guys have already gone to prison. President Obama has squashed all the fabricated loopholes that made torture possible. There is no chance that anyone will be tortured while he’s in office. We can only hope that future generations will act as wisely.