As an aside, as revelatory as the disclosures were, news reports of Mohamed's torture were buried by the mainstream print media and went unreported by the cable news outlets, underscoring how the media's interest in Bush's torture policies has waned.
The Obama administration's decision to ignore the past administration's crimes has alienated civil liberties groups, who he could once count on for support.
Last December, on the day Obama received a Nobel Peace prize, Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, told reporters "on every front, the [Obama] administration is actively obstructing accountability. This administration is shielding Bush administration officials from civil liability, criminal investigation and even public scrutiny for their role in authorizing torture."
Cheney's Attacks Unfounded
That being the reality is what makes Cheney's claim on Sunday that the Obama administration is attempting to prosecute "CIA personnel that had carried out our counterterrorism policy or disbarring lawyers" laughable.
Holder has expanded the mandate of a special counsel, appointed during the Bush administration, who is investigating the destruction of torture tapes, to conduct a "preliminary review" of less than a dozen torture cases involving CIA contractors and interrogators to determine whether launching an expanded criminal inquiry is warranted. That hardly amounts to a prosecution. It's not even an investigation.
And "disbarring lawyers, a clear reference to Yoo and Bybee, which is beyond the scope of the Justice Department watchdog's authority to begin with, is no longer a possibility given that the OPR report reportedly does not recommend disciplinary action.
In a statement, the ACLUsaid, "to date, not a single torture victim has had his day in court."
As Jane Mayer reported in a recent issue of the New Yorker, Holder's limited scope authorization to Durham did not go over well with the White House and Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made sure Holder knew where the administration stood.
"Emanuel worried that such investigations would alienate the intelligence community..." Mayer wrote. "Emanuel couldn't complain directly to Holder without violating strictures against political interference in prosecutorial decisions. But he conveyed his unhappiness to Holder indirectly, two sources said. Emanuel demanded, 'Didn't he get the memo that we're not re-litigating the past?'"
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