CNN

So the bottom line is that no one in the rotten Bush administration, including Bush, will ever be held responsible for the lies, corruption, torture, misery and war criminal activity they perpetrated?

Meanwhile, if I get a ticket for going through a stop sign, I'll be prosecuted to the highest level of law....

BALONEY

OK HERE IS THE DEAL
I think that fair and balance deal might be to CONDEMN Pres Bush for torturing in order to protect our country, and at the spe time, CONDEMN OBAMA AND HIS GANG FOR TREASON AS ENEMiES OF THE STATE for NOT SELLING THE NATION BUT SERVING THE COUNTRY, in silver plate, TO THE ENEMIES FOR FREE!
So let the people decide ! I would go for it, certainly.
Questions anyone?

"And people are mad about the waterboarding of these captured combatants/terrorists why?"

When you lower yourself to their level then you lower yourself to their level. America is better than that...so I'm told.

We can all celebrate that CIA waterboarders have been granted immunity for committing torture. It makes me feel so much safer to know that the law will not be enforced.

If waterboarding was considered torture during the Japanese War Crimes Tribunals of WWII then then should still be considered as an act of torture when Americans use the technique.

This administration wants to erase the last one. They also want to blame everything on whites, conservatives, Christians, military, etc. – essentially anyone who is remotely not an extreme liberal. I think the wording on that "terrorist threat" document should replace all issues with things such as homosexual rights, pro-abrotion, anti-military, animal and plant religous, etc. – you know, all the people who violently demonstrated, violently physically attacked opposition, attempted/threatened to kill people, and continue to enrode my rights.

Tim April 16th, 2009 5:08 pm ET

Thank God the spineless liberals were not in charge during these trying times when we needed someone to make tough decisions.

Because the decisions we got from the Decider were really something to write home about.

Here is what Gore would have done on September 12:
1. Institute $1 Patriot gas tax on fossil fuel to encourage our switch to fossil fuels and stop up the money draining East.
2. Bombed the ever loving out of Tora Bora, and start carpet bombing west until we killed that rat b_stard. Replace the Taliban government.
3. Fund rebuilding the Twin Towers exactly as before and 1 story higher, with that heartwrenching ruin with the flag draped on it preserved as a memorial for all time.
4. Moved on to things that didn't involve creating an American Empire.

And people are mad about the waterboarding of these captured combatants/terrorists why?

Bush, Cheney, Rummie the whole despicable evil lot of them will never face justice for their crimes against humanity....Others like them have escaped justice too, among them Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot...

But just for a second, imagine the key players of the former Republican administration on trial in an international court facing the judge as they are about to receive their sentences....

It would be a beautiful sight...one that the world and history would applaud.

Obama administration should also release Bush-era documents pertaining to:

1. The initiation of Iraq war.
2. Intelligence reports that Iraq has WMDs.
3. Authorizing subprime lending to homeowners.
4. Hiking gas prices to $4.50 a gallon and then brining them down
during elections.
5. And many more clandestine activities of Bush-era.

The memos are posted on Huffington Post. Get the Pepto Bismol cuz your stomach will need it. Disgusting. I understand the decision not to prosecute the CIA agents, but the higher ups that allowed this and the lawyers that wrote them should be disbarred.

For those who say waterboarding and face slamming and hooking up electrode to tea bags isn't torture, I say please SIGN UP!!

VOLUNTEER to have this done to you and prove all us bleeding heart pinko liberals wrong!

Matt

We have to leave by Dec 2011... Bush signed that into law under the SOFA with Iraq. So don't worry we are leaving.

As far as going in... WMD was one of 19 reasons as agreed upon by congress when we went. Not the least of it being Saddams failure to follow the cease fire he agreed to at the end of the Gulf War. He continued to harrase no fly zones and fire on US Air Force pilots in the mean time... any of which is an act of war. I agree that no WMD was found. As far as calling everyone a coward... that's easy to do on a website when you have no idea who served... or how many times. I did... embedded for a year training Iraqis in Al Anbar... many of which would tell you "oh yea... we had plenty of chem weapons... and used them up North or in the Iran war".

All in all I agree with you though... Iraq was a very big mistake. Staying in Afgahnistan will be as well... The Russians learned that... at well as most countries who have had a land war in Asia.

PS: The movie Charlie Wilsons War goes a long way to explaining what happend in Afghanistan in the 80s.

@ TCM, who said "the grip is slipping…like most celebrities…his star is fading fast!"

Whatever you gotta tell yourself so you can sleep at night bub.

Pepou, you are the reason I do not trust the school systems in this country. Are you also teaching not to do what the democrats do such as starting the Viet Nam police action? What about the Bay of Pigs? Are you teaching your students that Obamas stimulus plan will be paid for by them?

The Geneva convention doesn't apply to enemy combatants. It does apply to prisoners of war. Once taken prisoner, the only thing you can ask is name, rank and serial number. You can not ask any other questions, even if the prisoner is talkative, otherwise, you are not following the Geneva Conventions.

According to Obama, he will only follow the Geneva conventions. So no matter what, no one will ever ask an enemy combatant anything other than their name, rank and serial number. We have Obama's word. If he goes back on that word, then it wil be "a dark day in the history of the United States".

Liberals really are a bunch of tools.

@ LIP, who said "since our president is elected by the Electoral College, then a clear majority would be "electoral votes". "

That's nice. But that's not what people mean in common parlance.

Rob,

Talk about people living in make believe land, Bush is a Saint and Obama is the devil right? Sounds familiar? You need to renew your kkk membership. You’re right Obama is probably torturing as I type; it is mind-boggling how you people can be so obtuse. Just because he those things contrary to what you want.

@ SD, Michigan, who asked "who says somebody won't try to spin the Constitution someday?"

Haven't you been listening to the rightwing fundy neocon dingbats for the past 50 years (give or take, depending on your age)? They're still trying to eviscerate our nation's most sacred document...it's what Bush did for 8 years and what McCain promised to continue if elected and what Palin and her ilk promise to do if they are ever elected POTUS. They HATE civil rights getting in the way of their ideological theocracy.

Now that they have released the book, I hope they release the movies. I have my popcorn ready and can't wait to see how we made these guys talk and give up details that saved American lives. Thanks Bush. Thank God the spineless liberals were not in charge during these trying times when we needed someone to make tough decisions. I'm with you 100%, and I'm glad that the methods we used proved to be effective.

Anyone who thinks these methods made us less safe because it would make the terrorists do likewise are just plain foolish and naive. I'd much rather be waterboarded than have my head cut off.

I want to read the memos and vote for a trial of war crimes against that egregious fascist. don't forget to include all the terrorists he palled around with like Cheney, Rove...get the point?

It amazes me how people use the 911 to justify everything, yet our government and the republican right bash the 911 wives daily. Why can't we water board republicans? Let's waterboard Perry to see what he knows about Texas leaving the union. Bush, Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest of them.

That is change I can believe in...

I agree with Obama's approach. At the time, waterboarding was not defined as torture. The current administration is saying "it is now, so we're not doing it." So to prosecute those CIA officials would be prosecuting them for an action that was not considered a crime at the time. But at the same time, we can't continue it, so releasing these memos is good so we can see what we should not do anymore.

I love the fact that probably 90% of you have never even seen war except in bad movies or on tv. How about you actually know what you're talking about you COWARDS. Any President that understands that we shouldn't have even gone into Iraq understand the best thing we can do is let them take over but we can't b/c some id.iot got into a really bad situation we may never be able to get out of. I should know. I was there.

Why did we go in? WMD-were none. Saddam's ties to Al-Queda? were no ties. To Bin Laden? They weren't any b/c before the first Gulf War Bin Laden went to the Saudi King to ask if they could start a jihad against Saddam and the King chose us to go in and take care of the problem. If you're going to type then at least know what you're talking about. Go buy the book Ghost Wars. It was written by CIA ops dealing with the Mujahdeen in Afghanistan and our role. It is not a liberal book by any stretch of the imagination. It was written and has interviews, documents, etc explaining every single move we made in order to assist and arm the Mujahdeen by first using the ISI of Pakistan and then later the Afghan warlords themselves. Enlighten yourself.

For all those that actually read the dibble I leave behind; since our president is elected by the Electoral College, then a clear majority would be "electoral votes". For those less astute, I will try to be more specific.

All this from a community organizer that could not even buy his own house....Obama does not know what torture is,too bad he did not grow up in the early 1800's in the west,the Indians coud have taught him something about torture.

Does anyone remember how 6-7 yrs ago that if spoke out against Bush you were a TRAITOR or Un-american? You do realize that the fingers are putting back at you now right.

all you morons that worry about the geneva convention as it applies to TERRORISTS, think a minute....they don't wear uniforms, they don't belong to a 'traditional' army for which the geneva convention was written....they aim to kill innocents, not soldiers....their home nations don't want them back....their only aim is to TERRORIZE, MAIM, and KILL and die in the process..........so climb upon your high horses and enjoy a few more months of relative tranquility because i think we're becoming soft and thus more vulnerable to attack by those who would do us harm.......after napoitano opens our borders and blesses the illegals, after obama makes nice with TERRORISTS and their supporter nations, after obama dismantles the CIA and our anti-terror apparatus and scares the rest of our intelligence operatives into meek silence and inaction with his most recent stunt, after obama puts a stop to our anti-missile defense systems development, after he finishes trying the palsy-walsy anti-terror strategy.....well, you get the picture..........

I have to say that I am anti torture but this sounds like a good plan to me. This way everyone will know what happened and the people that did the torturing will not be punished for doing what the were told to do by their employer. Sure it may have been wrong for them to do it, but if they didn't do what they were told to do then they would have been tried for not protecting the country. Good job Obama!

For those bashing Obama for coming clean, just stop typing. This is ridiculous. I love how everything is his fault and no one elses. I'm sure every single person whose typed that leads the perfect Christian life and has never had to clean up after someone else. Just wait in 4 years and see how far we've come. If you don't like then please leave. I am an American and regardless of who sits in that office he is our commander so quit your whining b/c 99% of the things you type 1. make no sense. 2. You have no idea what you're talking about. 3. You can't even back up much of anything with actual data b/c they're still sifting through all the BS Cheney left.

Just finished reading the first memo. Basically, to go past CAT, they only needed to redefine the term "severe", as in severe pain and suffering, with some bogus excuses.
Hey Cheney, why don't you volunteer to be waterboarded and let us know if it was severe or mild...
Laws are laws, and should be respected. If they put a spin on this, who says somebody won't try to spin the Constitution someday?

Wowzey wow !! Listen to the republicans screech and howl..........

Go Mr Obama, Ain't nobody mad, but the devil.........

which should we surrender to?

the Bush administrations taking away civil rights and 8 years of fear and suppression of the media and taking us to war on fabricated lies and dragging us into recession and ...

or

terrorists

neither sounds appealing

your post was equally unappealing and extreme and
far fetched phoenix86

Quite true. Obama will have surrendered to terrorists and their sponsors by then.
--------------------------------
Dont see how if he sendin off more troops and is actively finishin the war that idiot started...

I don't know if they tortured those despicable animals at Guantanamo Bay or not but I sure hope so.

Waterboarding is not torture.
Abu Ghraib was the most overblown story in the history of journalism.

Beth,

Ah Beth but it’s ok to the criticize Obama for trying to get us out of the recession. If you know what he knows maybe you shouldn’t be quick to judge also. Practice what you preach….

I am sure the release will prove that the Bush administration did nothing illegal. Conservatives should be happy we are putting the left-wing lies to rest. There is nothing to be ashamed of if you are liberal and nothing to be afraid of if you are conservative. Why are people so immature on this site?

In fact the Obama administration is probably doing these very same things (difference is Bush used it on the US enemies, Obama's using it on people who don't agree with him).
--------------------------------
Proof?

In 1945 after the Allies overran, conquered and divided Nazi Germany, many of Germany's citizens wouldn't, couldn't or didn't beleive that a genocide had taken place just down the street from them, at their countrymen's doing.

When American troops went through and closed the concentration camps, they didn't bury the bodies of tortured, mutilated, murdered European Jews. No. They forced, sometimes at gunpoint, the unbelieving Germans who lived close to the camps to dig the graves so they could see just exactly how horrifying the Nazi rhetoric was that they helped support.

Will the people who live in a right wing propaganda echo chamber (all news from Fox, Drudge & AM radio) need to one day confront the horrors of their rhetoric? Or will we one day have to force them at gun point to bury the victims of their own violence?

I am not remotely kidding, by the way.

No one is after the heads of any of the grunts in the CIA or any other organization that was only doing what they were told, even if they actually did the deed. They were only following orders.

The head of the "decider" that decided to torture uh, excuse me, "enhance introgations"

Now, that MAY be a different case, so to speak.

I support any method used against terrorists to keep this country safe. So many of you seem to forget what they did to us on 9/11 and beyond.

What good can possibly come of this? Just more fodder for terrorists and liberals. They should do a study of how many terrorist attacks were thwarted by subjecting some of these terrorists to a few seconds of extreme discomfort. The USA is and always has been the nation that tries to play by the rules. Where is the outcry when some sorry soul gets his head sawed off on video? I'm fed up with being the apologizing superpower. Deep down you all know we are playing into the hands of these terrorists, you also know they had it MUCH better than Americans would in their hands. How long will it be before I see some commercial asking people if they were tortured at Guantanamo Bay because they could receive a settlement?

The all need to be taken to the Hague and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!!!!

DT:

And in 4 years the new administration can release Obamas memos on terror interrogations. Believe me there will be plenty.
————————————————————————————————

Im sure Obama wont need it 4 years from now…

Quite true. Obama will have surrendered to terrorists and their sponsors by then.

Interesting...

Obama is on CNN right now saying how no good can come from looking back and pointing blame...

HA... the hypocracy of this guy is astounding.

To virginia nielsen.

It's hypocritical that liberals accuse Bush of having ignored the CIA's warning about 9/11 and then call them idiots for listening to the CIA about Iraq's threat. Make up your minds. And no, the Bush Administration did not make the CIA lie. The CIA (and most of the Democrats – including the Clinton's) believed it was true. Get your facts straight.

this is a sad day for the liberal wing of the Democratic party-Obama is letting all those government torturers and waterboarders go free--
where is the Change I can believe in??????

@ FreeNLovIt, who said "Extremism is so deadly and horrible that we really needed to do this to beat the heart of extremism. "

How do you feel about us torturing confessions out of KKK members and militia wannabes who worship at the bloody altar of St. McVeigh then? Hmmmm? Your premise doesn't even make sense anyway because torturing people didn't help us "beat the heart of extremism." Last I checked, we wasted 7 years farting around in Iraq killing tens of thousands of people instead of going after bin Laden and Zawahiri et al. in Afghanistan. Ideology is not a prism, it's a blinder.

Pepou April 16th, 2009 3:26 pm ET

"I am anxious to see them. I am teaching a class and want to inform my students so they understand the past and don't repeat it."

Then you might want to look at FDR and extending the Depression by ten years because of gov spending.

Can't wait until the next administration... we'll get releases of Obama memos going over Obama's birth certificate, campaign contributions from Palestine, and efforts by his administration to target private US citizens.

"Obama is setting a new precedent by trying to smear a prior presidency by releasing documents that will damaging to the reputation of our nation"

If the prior chump-in-chief did everything straight up like we heard from both the administration and the talking bobble-head, then what are you folks of being exposed that would "smear" the shrub.

This is your chance to show your unfailing support and shout out loud and proud!

We are Proud of Obama and Biden.
We are Ashamed of Bush and Cheney.
Bush and Cheney are war Criminals and should be in Jail.
Bush and Cheney mislead Americans into Iraq war by creating a false intelligence report that Iraq has WMDs.
Bush and his Father as Presidents put America into war with Iraq, for their greed for oil.
Thousands have died, including 4200 US Troops due to the unjustified war.

Everyone is so quick to judge, but none of us were in Bush's shoes immediately after the 9/11 attacks. We don't know what kind of information he had or what kind of attack was coming next. I'll say this- if an attack was coming in my city, and someone had to resort to waterboarding to get info on that attack, then I don't care if the terrorist was in a little pain. His pain does not compare to the thousands of husbands, wives, children, etc. of people who were lost in 9/11. So unless you were there, in the Pentagon, with confidential memos in your hand, no one has a right to judge. I think these CIA guys did what they needed to do, and in the process, they thwarted many more attacks that could have costed more lives.

Bush tortured alone......no other country would admint to even being a part of this. Funny, when other nations act unilaterally you 'Code Right' fanatics want to invade and torture them ala Bush.....yet when the U.S. used to act unilaterally under Bush, you ignorantly turned a blind eye.
How crass to feel that you are above the rest of the world. And how crass to think an American dictator is above a dictator from any other country or era.

And.....how small to think that Bush is the only President villified by the other party......Bush went after Clinton the minute he stole the election in 2000! I agree that minions should not be procescuted for following orders........too bad we can't quietly send Cheney to Guantanamo himself and have HIM deprived of any rights, just like he did to so many others......how can he sleep at night??

LIP April 16th, 2009 4:00 pm ET

This is good.
It is well for President Obama to remember that like him or not, George W. Bush was elected by a clear majority twice

******************************************

Actually, although he eventually was granted the most electoral college votes in 2000, he did not win a 'majority' in that election, he lost the popular vote.

@ LIP, who said "LIP "It is well for President Obama to remember that like him or not, George W. Bush was elected by a clear majority twice and that Obama as president represents all those people."

Indeed...and they should all be given the concrete proof they need in order to get over their denial and admit that the POTUS they voted for did unspeakable things in their name.

Anonymous April 16th, 2009 4:05 pm ET

Well, I see the Obama administration finally got something right! I'm a strong advocator of torturing Islamic terrorists that are out to kill Americans!!

Only someone with the handle of 'Anonymous' could say something so completely anti-Constitutional and anti-American. SHAME on you, COWARD.

Thank you Mr. President. Some of the twisted, perverted logic of the Bush years will come out at last.

Sorry to say though that the "patriotic conservatives" are gonna try and crucify you and your Justice Dept. on this one. Stay strong Mr. President and keep seeking the truth. ALL of America – except for the fear mongers and fascist wack jobs of course – will support you 110%...

Fo the people up there that is on favor for torture terrorists, please, don't ever forget that we're attacked because Bush and his pals totally ignored the warnings that CIA reported to them... 911 happened because of their ARROGANCE and IGNORANCE !!! The last administration is a bunch of criminals that besides let America be attacked went to Iraq looking for the oil and killed more 5,000 young man and women !!! What a jerks !!!

And in 4 years the new administration can release Obamas memos on terror interrogations. Believe me there will be plenty.
--------------------------------

Im sure Obama wont need it 4 years from now...

Releasing documents is one thing, but I would rather see them PROSECUTE those that were responsible for the torture and that includes the former "Commander-in-Chief".

Here we are a nation of laws, but it seems to me that there is no one in Congress that wants to enforce them. What is wrong with this picture?

That is why we have such a problem along our southern border!

after this is released anyone can take it and run. Good ..............

Let the fun begin.

Grand Jury Exhibits 1, 2, 3 and 4 are now marked for identification and received in evidence.

a simple (if dark/bad) fact is that in every country, sometimes things are done in order to protect its citizens that people may find wrong and/or questionable. Fact is fact, EVERYONE DOES it. Anyone who thinks that is not the case, or that everyone should just stop lives in a delusional, make-believe world. Say what you will to sound all high and mighty, it needs to be done. In fact the Obama administration is probably doing these very same things (difference is Bush used it on the US enemies, Obama's using it on people who don't agree with him).

Where ere these tea-pary folks when Bush had us paying 12 million dollars an hour to occupy a counrty that never attacked us?

I want the next words I hear from Bush or Cheney to be a plea,

How is this going to help anything? It can only split the country more than it already is.
Moreover, none of us have enough knowledge as to the threats to our country, to decide if the "torture" was appropriate- and I personally dont care to know.

How is this going to help anything? It can only split the country more than it already is.
Moreover, none of us have enough knowledge as to the threats to our country, to decide if the "torture" was appropriate- and I personally dont care to know.

To Brian Crooks

What Obie is doing is not painful at all!!! At least W didnt go through what Clinton went through... dragged through hell just to show that he grabbed Monica's bra.

Think about what terrorism will do to American...You people are talking about how America used illegal torture methods while terrorisms are out there killing American people...

They're not out of the woods yet. They still need to answer for Abu Ghraib.

i thought i helped elect a constitutional scholar. wth?

Look at it this way Mississippi Mike, perhaps these documents will put an end to the questions and clear the Bush Admin.

I dont agree with what was done, but sometimes the end justfies the means. Extremism is so deadly and horrible that we really needed to do this to beat the heart of extremism. Dont try to be nice to Muslim extremist. If they have the upper hands, we will all have to wrap ourselves in bed sheets.

so what, then? if this administration wont seek justice, then this country may fail.

Good move !!! Finally the truth is going to come out !!! I smell trouble for Chenney (Dart Vader !!!), big trouble !!! Dictatorship is over !!! God bless America !!! Justice is on the way ....

It's always easy to be transparent on the opposing party. The test will be if Obama is willing to be transparent on his own administration. We'll see.

Cheney is an evil man. Any republican who is not ashamed of this is stupid too.

Terrorists and Al-Queda do not attack us from other countries. They come here, infiltrate inside our country and attack us. The 9/11 terrorists were living here and had entered USA on visitor / business visas. Therefore we need a better Homeland security to prevent them from entering, rather than going after them in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Going after terrorist in other countries costs money and puts our troops on harms way.
If Al-Queda attacks us from other countries, it would be an act of war, from the soil of that country and we will have the right to defend ourselves by bombing that country. Therefore other countries will never dare to let Al-Queda use their soil to attack a Superpower USA.
Infiltrating into our country is “Covert War”. Probably Russia and China is helping Al-Queda to infiltrate inside USA. Now our intelligence agencies should be working on this.
But unfortunately our intelligence agencies were working for Bush and Cheney to fabricate false and misleading intelligence reports regarding WMDs in Iraq. Bush and Cheney are war Criminals and should be in Jail. Bush and Cheney mislead Americans into Iraq war by fabricating an intelligence report that Iraq has WMDs. None of the 9/11 terrorists were from Iraq. Iraq was attacked for Bush’s greed for oil. Thousands have died, including 4200 US Troops due to the unjustified war.

LIP,
Dubya was not elected by a majority in 2000. He was in 2004.

Proud Army Navy Mom: did you read the whole article? The last line said exactly that. The full article said it several ways.

So when does the author get indictedand , at minimum, disbarred?

They should be published everywhere and added to political science and civics curriculae in schools nationwide so that our children can study them and see how the mind of a traitor functions.

Mississippi Mike, What planet do you live ON? With a public approval rating of 26, President George W Bush rates as one of the worst presidents of this country. There is no need to smear him, he did a good job of doing that to himself. When there are ALLY countries of ours seeking to try members of the Bush Administration for torture and crimes against humanity, do you really think that there is much President Obama can do to make it worse?

In four years, President Obama will likely still be President. For all the "tea parties" yesterday, and all the hype about them today, there are signs that the economy is righting itself, that our standing among our fellow nations is improving, and that there are still over 60% of Americans who believe that President Obama is doing a good job. But even should he not run, or when he finishes his second term, there will ALWAYS be those who use the 20/20 vision of hindsight to second-guess and criticize decisions they couldn't themselves make. Every President has had their detractors, from George Washington (oh, yes, he had HIS detractors, too!) to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. There has been NO President who has been uniformly idealized and idolized as never having made a mistake.

Let's see what Cheney has to say about this – even more is will the Republican CNN "State of the Union" also present how the Bush administration used torture OR will the reporting continue to slant towards harsh criticism of President Obama!?!?!

Can't stand Republicans – all of you are crooks.

@ Mississippi Mike, who said "Obama is setting a new precedent by trying to smear a prior presidency by releasing documents that will damaging to the reputation of our nation."

I've got news for ya, "my friend": that damage has already been done. Once the s–t falls out of the dog, you can't put it back in. There's not a country on this planet that doesn't think we tortured people and not a country on this planet, other than redneck GOPer country here within our own borders, that believes it was ok.

These memos are legal opinions concerning the interpretation of our Constitution and Laws, and as such they are historical documents that most definitely be open to public scrutiny.

These are historical documents we as citizens have a *right* to view – come on people, let's not forget the values our nation was founded upon!

Bosh & Cheney are going down, just like Nixon. It's about time. I hope they spend their retirement in jail.

Gotta love the GOP Moonies who still support these idiots. What is wrong with you? Seriously, you must have some kind of resoning deficiency to continue to support the Grand Oppressive Party and their newest fool: Palin.

LIP "It is well for President Obama to remember that like him or not, George W. Bush was elected by a clear majority twice and that Obama as president represents all those people."

Obama was elected by a "clear majority." You can't possibly say the same about Bush (Florida 2000, Ohio 2004).

how can you hold those accountable for carrying out orders to harm somebody. Let me see, what happened after ww2...?

"U.S. does not torture…." George W. Bush, Oct 2007. Although I would not agree with torture, I would have more respect for former President Bush if he would come clean and say that he felt it was the only way to save lives. Be a man and admit it!!!!

Um LIP, he wasn't even elected by a majority twice, let alone large ones. He gots half a million less votes than Gore in 2000

NOW, that is my idea of transparency! Another tick mark for President Obama for fulfilling campaign promises.

This is indeed Change we can believe in and what the majority of American voters brought in on 11/4/08!

April 16th, 2009 4:05 pm ET

I dont understand why President Obama is Blocking Prosecution of the Bush Administration very Disapointing!
==============
He's not blocking prosecution of the entire Administration, just the footsoldiers that carried out orders from on high.

bue where is the prosecution of these torturers?

The administration has also informed CIA officials they will not be prosecuted for past waterboarding.

CNN try, just try to report all the facts. the administration stated that the ones carrying out the torture will not be prosecuted because they were following the orders of higher ups. you know, rumsfeld, cheney, bush, etc.

How i wish we had real journalists that actually investigates and reports facts accurately.

I'm sure conservatives will find a reason to hate this, because it will bring to light the criminal excesses of when they controlled the government.

And I'm sure liberals will find a reason to hate this, because it assures those criminals that they won't be prosecuted.

I wish Obama would realize that you're not going to make Republican fanatics happy, and just focus on enforcing the law.

I don't care to know the names of those CIA operatives, and if they don't wanna prosecute them, fine. But I want an investigation on who ordered these tortures in the first place and made them look "legal".
Mr. Patrick Leahy, start that Truth Comission already.
I care more about the reasons behind the bosses' decision, not particularly their "minions"...

April 16th, 2009 3:28 pm ET

Obama is setting a new precedent by trying to smear a prior presidency by releasing documents that will damaging to the reputation of our nation. It's a radical move in the tradition of Saul Alinsky's philosophy. This kind of political activism is damaging to the entire nation, not just Bush. When this is done to Obama in a few years, how will his supporters react?
==================
How is it a smear to report on laws that were broken by a former Presidential Administration? Was it smearing the Soviets when we learned about Stalin's gulags? Was it smearing the Baath Party when Saddam's atrocities came out? It's not a "smear" to let the American people know what was done in their name. Give me a break. If they didn't want to be "smeared" they shouldn't have tortured people.

if the Bush administration did not approve torture, then they have nothing to fear from releasing these documents.

As a moderate, I can see both bad and good with this action. On the good side, we make more transparent what went on in the Bush years, and just how far off from the ideals that this country USED to espouse we veered. This will prove, hopefully, to our allies that we no longer intend to violate the Geneva Conventions which we helped write.

On the other hand, it exacerbates an already acerbic situation that widens even further the gulf between those who supported our former Administration's choices and those that did not.

April 16th, 2009 3:22 pm ET

why not? We've already got the Torture Document from the Obama administration – it's called the "Stimulus Plan."
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Yeah, all those people working on the new road plans in my city and all those police on the streets trying to keep ingrates like you safe are REALLY being tortured in the same way as those people who apparently had their heads smashed into walls during detention.

That's not a rumor, it's what happened. In the memo, John Yoo said it was ok to slam a detainee's head into the wall so long as the interrogator's hands remained on the detainee's head and the interrogator had control over how hard the head impacted the wall. Give it up, THAT WAS TORTURE.

Well, I see the Obama administration finally got something right! I'm a strong advocator of torturing Islamic terrorists that are out to kill Americans!!

I dont understand why President Obama is Blocking Prosecution of the Bush Administration very Disapointing!

This is good.
It is well for President Obama to remember that like him or not, George W. Bush was elected by a clear majority twice and that Obama as president represents all those people. It would serve no purpose to alienate so many millions of people just for political points, because that is all that this would be about. Extraordinary meansures for extraordinary circumstances will always rule the day during a crises and that is what we had on 9/11.

Why should CIA officials be prosecuted? They were just following orders. Wait a minute - I think I've heard that somewhere before.

hahaha...the Cheneybot's mechanical heart must be ticking at warp speed. And he though we already hated him enough...

And in 4 years the new administration can release Obamas memos on terror interrogations. Believe me there will be plenty.

OK-Don't prosecute the CIA-they were just following orders thrown down by higher authority-Bush,Cheney, Rumsfeld Prosecute them
CNN Post this

"Administration to release torture documents from Bush era"

"Torture" documents???

Wow, can you say "loaded" headline much?

Indeed a dark unforgettable and unforgivable Republican chapter in the history of the United States.

Finally the smoking gun!!

Bet all you Code Pink, lib, anti-Bush freaks are poppin a blood vessel now, since Obama won't sic the lawyer dogs on the CIA for doing their job to keep the US safe.

Bet you'll have to take an extra turn or two in the bong to help you cope.

good...more transparency...keep it coming...

next, prosecution...how can we seriously break things like the geneva conventions without suffering any consequences?... maybe this is the the "arrogance" that the right wing complains we DON'T have...or at the least the arrogance we shouldn't admit we have...

i can't wait until republicans die off...like dinosaurs...just need a big comet to hit south of the mason-dixon line and we'll be good to go...

Bout time, now lets see what those retards were up to...

Maybe we do not prosecute them, but let's at least waterboard them to encourage their desire to allocute to their past activities.

Oh wait, I have a suggestion before you do that, how about we here in Texas, send you gov Perry for waterboarding, then please, send him to gitmo ! THANKS

Sounds like a compromise to me. Rather than totally keep everything silent, as the Republicans wanted, they will release some memos and not prosecute the CIA officials who performed the torture. I'm a little iffy on this, because I'm not sure we should offer blanket immunity to those who tortured. The bigger issue, however, is that we prosecute those who AUTHORIZED the torture. Just going after the torturer is a lot like going after the drug user or the corner dealer and letting the kingpin get away.

We will never regain our proper status in the world until or unless the Bush administration is brought to justice. Our silence is consent to war crimes.
LET JUSTICE BE DONE OR THE HEAVENS WILL FALL

The flag of democracy flies at half mast.

Great call Obama Administraton. Now let's see those memos (and have the appropriate actions taken)

Wasn't 8 years of Bush torture enough? Have a nice day!

Good, let's shed some light on America's dark past during the last 8 years.

Uh oh

Good. Of course there have been 8 years to delete, censor, and/or destroy anything incriminating.

Obama is setting a new precedent by trying to smear a prior presidency by releasing documents that will damaging to the reputation of our nation. It's a radical move in the tradition of Saul Alinsky's philosophy. This kind of political activism is damaging to the entire nation, not just Bush. When this is done to Obama in a few years, how will his supporters react?

I am anxious to see them. I am teaching a class and want to inform my students so they understand the past and don't repeat it.

I guess, if ya can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. She's pathetic. Yeah, we really need politicians who run away and hide. We have enough of those already.

prosecute them!

"U.S. does not torture...." George W. Bush, Oct 2007

This article brings to mind, "Why is Obama still campaigning? What is the left hand doing while the right hand shows us this...??

So many Obama supporters are regretful. At the Orlando Tea Party I personally talked to 66 people out of a crowd of a couple thousand ...that were former Obama supporters....

the grip is slipping...like most celebrities...his star is fading fast!

and let's have a tea party in protest of the illegal torture methods, despite Bush's christian morals

why not? We've already got the Torture Document from the Obama administration – it's called the "Stimulus Plan."