Max Eternity - Today, just after the announcement by President Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder that a special prosecutor had been appointed to investigate crimes [torture] committed at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray, U.S. House Judiciary chair John Conyers (D-MI), and subcommittee chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) released a joint statement applauding the appointment while also calling for a 'broad mandate' to prosecute beyond the 'frontline personal'. The statements appear to indicate that Conyers and Nadler are encouraging Holder to seek prosecutions not just against low-lying personnel, but also against the higher-up'policymakers and lawyers' who created the "conditions where such absues were all but inevitable to occur."
Nadler also said that "Seeking out only the low-level actors in a conspiracy to torture detainees will bring neither justice nor restored standing to our nation." Nonetheless it has been revealed by Truthout.org [1]that 9 Republican lawmakers signed a letter sent to Holder equating prosecuting members of the [CIA] government for using torture might result in yet another terrorist attack. The GOP members wrote in the carefully worded letter [2] that "Such an investigation could have a number of serious consequences, not just for the honorable members of the intelligence community, but also for the security of all Americans...The 9/11 Commission emphasized that keeping our country safe from foreign attack requires that the Justice Department work cooperatively with the intelligence community."
Glenn Greenwald @ Salon.com reports here [3], and the Brad Blog reports in further detail here [4].
Links:
[1] http://www.truthout.org/082409R
[2] http://bond.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=33893bec-aaa6-cb12-1913-71eff7068399&Region_id=&Issue_id=
[3] http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald//
[4] http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7372