Ted Olson: “Torture” probes will never end

The Washington Examiner ^ | April 23, 2009 | Byron York

[Scanian]

Perhaps more than anyone in Washington today, Theodore Olson knows the dangers of the path the Obama administration is traveling on the question of Bush-era terrorist interrogations.

It's not just that Olson is one of the nation's top lawyers and a former high-ranking Justice Department official. It's not even that his wife Barbara was among those killed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. The thing that makes Olson's perspective so valuable is that his life includes not only those experiences but also a keen perspective on the way Washington investigations can run amok.

In the 1980s, Olson was the subject of controversy over advice he had given, as the head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, to President Reagan on a question of constitutional privileges. His position angered Democrats in Congress, and for his troubles, Olson became the target not only of Capitol Hill investigations but a long independent counsel probe. A politically charged issue that should never have been investigated in the first place turned into a years-long nightmare.

Does that sound familiar? It's happened many times, at the instigation of both Democrats and Republicans. (By the way, Olson was ultimately found to have done nothing wrong.)

Now, the president's decision to release confidential Justice Department memos on the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used on a small number of al-Qaeda operatives has again set the Washington investigation machine in motion.

"It seems irrational and incomprehensible to me," Olson told me this week. "They have started something they can't stop, now that it's out. And what conceivable good can it do?"

[Repealthe17thAmendment]

DoughtyOne;

I agree with just about every thing you said except this- "Political leaders, we are watching."

The fact is that we aren't watching. Okay, well, maybe we are watching- but what we are watching is American Idol, Britain's Got Talent, or YouTubeTwitterFacebook.

The level of incompetence and ineptness is unprecedented by the Obama administration, yet if you see the newspapers or magazines, what you will see is an orgy of his first, glorious 100 days. And the reason that these supposed news outlets can make these ridiculous claims is that no one is watching or holding anyone accountable.

Self-indulgence and self-awareness has taken over rational thought. How else can you explain an administration that would even consider prosecuting the previous administration for taking steps that could possibly prevent another attack such as that seen on September 11, 2001? In less than eight years, we have become more interested in a British spinster than in our own national security.

I truly fear for America, and even though is was heartening to see the Tea Parties remind us of the dangers that lurk in our government, I believe it is too late. The taint is far too deep and broad.

The only solutions I see are relocation to a less "advanced" culture- one that places personal integrity and responsibility over fashion and feigned cleverness; or a designed and methodical takeover of a state or states and a subsequent secession from the USA.

And now is a good time to do it, because the political leaders are NOT watching.

[Uversabound]

God Bless you B. Olson. RIP

[Cicero]

Well, I suppose Obama is playing to his base: liberals, European weenies, and Muslims.