Liberal groups seek disbarment of Bush lawyers over torture
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/05/18/torture.bush.lawyers/art.alberto.gonzales.cnn.jpg caption="Alberto Gonzales is among the former attorneys general named in the complaints."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - A coalition of progressive groups sought Monday to have 12 Bush administration lawyers disbarred for their roles in crafting the legal rationale for so-called enhanced interrogation techniques that many view as torture.
"It is time to hold these lawyers accountable for violating their legal oath," Kevin Zeese, an attorney for the coalition, said in a written statement.
"Just as the bar would suspend an attorney who advised a police officer to torture and brutalize a detained immigrant or criminal defendant, the bar must suspend these attorneys for advocating and causing the torture of war detainees. The disciplinary boards that hear these complaints must act or they will be seen as complicit in the use of torture."
Zeese called disbarment "an important step toward the ultimate accountability of criminal prosecution."
The group registered formal complaints against David Addington, John Ashcroft, Stephen Bradbury, Jay Bybee, Michael Chertoff, Douglas Feith, Alice Fisher, Timothy Flanigan, Alberto Gonzales, William Haynes II, Michael Mukasey, and John Yoo.
This would be a good first step, and if the bar associations won't deal with it, congressional impeachment is a must! Criminal prosecutions are the end game though; I don't mind Obama and Holder dancing around it as the information trickles out, but if we want to retain our democracy, indictments are a must!