| It is with a heavy heart that I must report that the Obama Administration defended the Bush Administration's rendition and torture program in court yesterday. The bottom line is our political elite and their corporate friends are still above the law. They can commit treason, lie us into war, commit war crimes and get away with it. I fear that the Obama Administration will allow the crimes of the Bush Administration to go unpunished and set a precedent for future Republican administrations.
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments from the Obama Administration in the case of 5 victims against a subsidiary of Boeing, Jeppesen. The plaintiffs are suing Boeing/Jeppesen for participating in the Bush Administration's rendition and torture program. Previously, Team Obama had stated on many occasions that rendition was wrong and that invoking "states secrets" to quash lawsuits was wrong. Unfortunately, they've changed their minds. Even more unfortunately, this makes the Obama Administration complicit in the illegal activities of the Bushies.
[A] lawyer for the government, Douglas N. Letter, made the same state-secrets argument on Monday, startling several judges on the panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
"Is there anything material that has happened" that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.
"No, your honor," Mr. Letter replied.
"The change in administration has no bearing?" she asked.
"No, your honor," he said once more. The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been "thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration," and "these are the authorized positions," he said.
(NY Times)
Glenn Greenwald, as always, has the most thorough examination and how this is serious backsliding on Obama's campaign promises. There's also a good post up on this at DailyKos. It looks like now that he's in office Obama is lukewarm to investigating past crimes. |
