Obama "Looking Forward" to More Torture?

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The US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world— well over 7 million people are caught up in its prison system. This is a country that regularly imprisons juveniles, and it is the only major western state that retains the barbaric death penalty. Bush himself showed no clemency when he served as governor of Texas, sending 131 people to their deaths. None of them were spared on the principle of avoiding “retribution” or because of the need to “look forward.”

Beginning of article below; whole article here: http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13369

In the face of mounting opposition from the Republican Party and the national security apparatus, President Obama and leading Democrats have indicated they will block any independent commission to investigate the widespread torture of prisoners under the Bush administration in “the war on terror.”

In meetings with top Congressional Democrats on Wednesday and Thursday, Obama told lawmakers that he would oppose any investigation, including one carried out by an independent commission. This marked yet another shift by Obama, who on Tuesday had indicated that he might accept the creation of a blue ribbon panel along the lines of the 9/11 Commission that investigated—and whitewashed—the events leading up to the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. in 2001.

According to press reports, Obama told Congressional Democrats that any sort of investigation of the torture, which was carried out on the orders of top officials and in blatant violation of domestic and international law, would use up too much time and would likely expand into other areas of Bush administration criminality.

The Congressional Democrats agreed with Obama, announcing that they will await the results of a closed-door investigation being carried out by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which would not be known until “the end of the year” at the earliest, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Democrats hope that by stalling for time, the issue will simply go away.

Even if the Senate committee eventually completes its investigation, “it is actually unclear how much of the panel’s findings will ever be made public,” the New York Times points out. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who chairs the committee, has indicated that much of the information will remain classified.

On Thursday Reid said he thought it “unwise” to have any sort of investigation “until we find out what the facts are. And I don’t know a better way of getting the facts than through the Intelligence Committee.”

This is deceit. The “facts” are plain enough: the Bush White House approved, organized, and oversaw in minute detail widespread and systematic torture. A serious investigation would likely turn up further evidence, some of it horrific, proving these facts.