Keith Olbermann on Torture

I know, there is something wrong with posting Pat Buchanan and Keith Olbermann videos back to back, but as an extremophile, I find both of them more palatable than the center.

Olberman is speaking here about the exit of Bush and the confirmation hearings for Barack Obama’s choice to head the Justice Dept, Eric Holder. Holder is asked whether he believes waterboarding is torture.

I take the position that if we prosecuted the Japanese for waterboarding as a war crime, then we can’t just decide to do it ourselves as if it is ok, without any previous public discussion.

The whole Jack Bauer argument is ludicrous. If anyone were in such a position, they wouldn’t hold back over legalities, they would take whatever action was necessary and damn the consequences. If they prevented a major terrorist attack, they would  be pardoned. Laws don’t prevent things from happening, they merely provide consequences.

Jonathan Turley also has a great quote in this: “There is a big difference between criminalizing policies, and a policy of crimes”  Bush should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, not for the things he did, but for trying to destroy the evidence that he did them.