Charges Unlikely for Bush Lawyers Over Interrogations

With Obama coming to the conclusion that the Military Tribunals aren't half bad after all, how could he possibly push forward with charges against some of the legal minds who were involved in the early decisions. Add to this the fact that Pelosi might end up in the dock herself and that the released memos were cherry picked to make his supporters look good and the GOP look bad. It was a bad call from start to finish, and if not for the opposition of Cheney and Porter Goss, who knows where this would have ended up. Who knows, perhaps Bush appointee lobbying worked?


From The NY Times MAY5th:

WASHINGTON — An internal Justice Department inquiry into the conduct of Bush administration lawyers who wrote secret memorandums authorizing brutal interrogations has concluded that the authors committed serious lapses of judgment but should not be criminally prosecuted, according to government officials briefed on a draft of the findings

The report by the Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal ethics unit within the Justice Department, is also likely to ask that state bar associations consider possible disciplinary action, including reprimands or even disbarment, for some of the lawyers involved in writing the legal opinions, the officials said.

The conclusions of the 220-page draft report are not final and have not yet been approved by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The officials said it is possible the final report might be subject to revision, but they did not expect major alterations in its main findings or recommendations.

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From an April 23rd Post:

Heymann said the Obama administration is unlikely to pursue criminal charges against the Justice Department lawyers because doing so would likely lead to investigations of senior officials under former President George W. Bush. In addition, accusing the lawyers of aiding and abetting torture would be difficult, he said.

“If they went after them, the government would have to say, ‘This wasn’t your honest legal advice,’” Heymann said. “That doesn’t sound like a very good case.”On April 21, the president said he would leave it to Holder to decide if the authors of the Justice Department memos should be tried. Holder yesterday told reporters he will “follow the evidence wherever it takes us.”Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, declined to say whether department lawyers may face criminal charges.

Ethics Review

She said in a statement the agency’s professional ethics office is reviewing whether the legal advice in the memos by Office of Legal Counsel officials was “consistent with the professional standards that apply to department attorneys.”

The OLC can deliver a massive slap to the Bush appointees for Obama and it is the perfect vehicle for the President to accomplish his goals. On the one hand he could tell his base we did punish the "evil" Bush admin, and more importantly he can prevent anything truly damaging to Democrats from being released during a trial process. Of course Obama thinks he can ride this tiger and get away with it, a very dangerous proposition. There is another wildcard here, overseas events are just as likely to intervene that would derail any investigation. As we speak the Taliban are 70 miles from Islamabad, the Russians are a bare 40 minutes from the capital, our enemies are on the march and Obama is going to need a unified country if he intends to stare down our nations enemies. A great summary of Obama and the damage he is doing can be found here.

Obama risked a great deal, and for what?