Arrest the Torture Masters

We know what happened.

"I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do. And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it." 

 --Former Vice President Dick Cheney, responding to a question about waterboarding

"Waterboarding has been used on only three detainees. It was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. It was used on Abu Zubaydah. And it was used on [Abd al-rahim al-]Nashiri." 

--Former Director of CIA Gen. Michael Hayden

"The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees... Interrogation policies endorsed by senior military and civilian officials authorizing the use of harsh interrogation techniques were a major cause of the abuse of detainees in US custody."

--Senate Armed Services Committee Inquiry Into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S Custody

"These activities [torture]...were authorized, they were known at the highest levels, they were supported by legal opinions at the Department of Justice."

--Former White House Counsel and Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

We know the law.

"Waterboarding is torture." 

--Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking to Senate Judiciary Committee

"To be clear, torture is currently banned under United States laws (under the anti-torture statute, the War Crimes Act, the Geneva Conventions, and the Detainee Treatment Act)."

--House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers

We know what must be done.

"No one is above the law." 

--Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking to Senate Judiciary Committee

"My view is also that nobody's above the law and, if there are clear instances of wrongdoing, that people should be prosecuted just like any ordinary citizen." 

--President Barack Obama, speaking to the White House press corps

So why are we looking the other way?

How can this be something we put off until Obama's second term--if there even is a second term? True, Democrats don't want to look like they're playing politics with prosecutions. They don't want to look like they are taking revenge the very moment they get in power. But the story here--as outlined above--is pretty clear and leaves very little excuse not to put Bush administration officials on trial. 

As I've said before, not pursuing prosecutions is "playing politics." What reason could the Justice Department have for failing to bring charges other than that they don't want to interfere with the White House's political agenda? When forced to comment on Bush's torture policy, Obama likes to say he is "more interested in looking forward," because he knows that plays well in the media, keeps his positives high, and maintains the above-it-all image he's fashioned. He's taking the easy road, rather than doing what's right. 

Every day that the torture masters skate by is a day that political expediency trumps justice.