The neverending story
September 12th 2009 03:57
“It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must.”
-- President Gerald Ford, announcing his decision to pardon President Richard Nixon
There are things that simply won’t go away, no matter how much people want them to. “Demotivator” posters. American Idol. The suggestion of prosecuting CIA and Bush Administration officials for alleged mistreatment or torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.
Now, Gerald Ford was a very underrated president and a very brave man. He knew that pardoning Nixon would be unpopular – in fact, he said in later years that it probably cost him re-election. But he believed that a trial could not be fair to Nixon, would be damaging to the country, and would benefit no-one. So he made an unpopular decision. Granted, the situation is not exactly the same; Nixon’s crimes were serious, divisive, and unquestionably impeachable, but as the spectrum of historical and potential presidential misbehavior goes, they were far from the worst imaginable. Eric Holder’s investigation of the “torture memos” has brought up the possibility of things that were much worse in the abstract, although the legal circumstances were murkier and often open to interpretation (Does the Geneva Convention apply to al-Qaeda? What counts and doesn’t count as torture under existing law? Is Guantanamo Bay U.S. soil? &c).
The similarity, of course, is that strong enthusiasm exists in places, both for and against prosecution. (It would have been nice to see similar levels of interest in the past when American citizens were the victims, but people are notoriously inconsistent.) Given, though, that the Administration is supposed to govern all Americans for the interests of all Americans, it is fair to ask what exactly Holder thinks will be achieved by continuing to investigate the CIA. Arousing, as President Ford once said, ugly passions? Further polarizing, as he courageously stated, Americans’ opinions? Obama and his administration hold the power to do all that and more, but he also holds the power to take the high road, the hard road, and close the book. Only he can do it. And he should.
-- President Gerald Ford, announcing his decision to pardon President Richard Nixon
There are things that simply won’t go away, no matter how much people want them to. “Demotivator” posters. American Idol. The suggestion of prosecuting CIA and Bush Administration officials for alleged mistreatment or torture of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere.
Now, Gerald Ford was a very underrated president and a very brave man. He knew that pardoning Nixon would be unpopular – in fact, he said in later years that it probably cost him re-election. But he believed that a trial could not be fair to Nixon, would be damaging to the country, and would benefit no-one. So he made an unpopular decision. Granted, the situation is not exactly the same; Nixon’s crimes were serious, divisive, and unquestionably impeachable, but as the spectrum of historical and potential presidential misbehavior goes, they were far from the worst imaginable. Eric Holder’s investigation of the “torture memos” has brought up the possibility of things that were much worse in the abstract, although the legal circumstances were murkier and often open to interpretation (Does the Geneva Convention apply to al-Qaeda? What counts and doesn’t count as torture under existing law? Is Guantanamo Bay U.S. soil? &c).
The similarity, of course, is that strong enthusiasm exists in places, both for and against prosecution. (It would have been nice to see similar levels of interest in the past when American citizens were the victims, but people are notoriously inconsistent.) Given, though, that the Administration is supposed to govern all Americans for the interests of all Americans, it is fair to ask what exactly Holder thinks will be achieved by continuing to investigate the CIA. Arousing, as President Ford once said, ugly passions? Further polarizing, as he courageously stated, Americans’ opinions? Obama and his administration hold the power to do all that and more, but he also holds the power to take the high road, the hard road, and close the book. Only he can do it. And he should.
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Mike Kindel
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