The Victors Write History

Please recall what a certain blogginator wrote on this subject earlier this year on April 23 . . . it is worth reading again. Attorney General Holder is currently contemplating appointing a special prosecutor to investigate decisions relating to interrogation methods made during the Bush Administration, and those individuals who made the decisions.

This is a huge mistake on several levels.

First, the obvious . . . punishing policymakers for making policy during national crises will encourage lack of risk-taking and lowest common denominator decision making. Do we want our leaders afraid to make decisions when we most need them? When the stakes are the highest, don't we want our leaders decisive, and thinking about how to protect our citizens. That is the central, and most important, function of our Federal Government. Above all else, it is to provide us with national defense; to protect us. Appointing this prosecutor will not advance the cause of keeping us safe.

Second reason this appointment, when it occurs (sidebet for lunch with anyone who doubts that it will happen), is a huge mistake is that the underlying motivations behind the appointment are political (and driven by the agenda of fringe political forces) and will doom the rest of the Obama Administration, as long as it lasts, to partisan politics as usual. I thought we were moving away from the politics of destruction, as our President liked to call the prevailing infighting when he was running for President. Appointing a special prosecutor for this looks more and more like the same old story.

Is this what we need? Is this the reason we elected Barack Obama? Didn't he run on a different platform? Rising above this nonsense to "right the ship"?

And if there are any doe-eyed innocents who think the President is not a party to the decision of whether, or not, to appoint . . . think again. This decision will stain the Obama Presidency.

Third reason this appointment is a mistake . . . never underestimate the opposition. If you think you know everything the Bush Administration knows . . . you are deluding yourself. Open this can of worms and it will stink to high heaven. There will be revelations of all sorts of things that the AG and the President did not want to come out. The Law of Unintended Consequences will rule in this case. This will hurt the Democrats chances, and it will injure our country. Airing our dirty laundry in public will not improve our image overseas. It will only serve to provide more fodder for USA-haters who don't give a damn what our well-meaning President is trying to communicate to them. They hate us and want to hurt us.

President Obama's instincts are telling him one thing. His politics are telling him something different. Hopefully he listens to his instincts and urges his AG not to appoint.

Woldy