McCain admits that the Bush memos and torture were illegal – but let's not prosecute anyway

On Face the Nation the other day, John McCain openly conceded that, yes, the torture condoned by the horrible Bush/Cheney memos violated various peace and anti-torture treaties. Problem is, he just doesn't seem to care enough to actually consider prosecuting the sons-of-bitches who allowed the torture to be carried out to begin with.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said on “Face the Nation” Sunday that — like most Republicans and even some Democrats, including some in the president’s cabinet — he thinks President Obama was right when he said “we ought to go forward, not back.”

But then he went on to say, as Glenn Greenwald tweeted yesterday, that “I think the interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture that we ratified under President Reagan.”

He even admits that torturing prisoners caused far more harm than good, particularly in advancing al-Qaeda:

“I think these interrogations helped al-Qaeda recruit,” McCain said yesterday, adding: “the damage that it did to America’s reputation in the world we’re still on the way to repairing.”

So basically ... "Yeah, what we did was illegal and we violated several conventions and treaties, even one ratified under our very own Republican hero, President Reagan, and it gave terrorists more reasons to hate us and attack us. But ... nah, let's let the scumbags who perpetrated this mess walk free. Forwards, not back."

Allowance, not justice.

Unfortunately, McCain's reasoning as to why these crimes against humanity shouldn't be investigated – the same reasoning given by all other Republicans, as far as I'm aware – is good. Not good as in fair or just, but good as in realistic – simply put, going after such high-ranking officials as the ones who condoned torture under the guise of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" would create an unholy political, legal and judicial mess that would likely cause more damage than has already been done. While of course I personally wouldn't give a damn how much instability this wreaked if it meant monsters who condoned torture faced due justice, one needs to be realistic and realize that the prosecution of these phony lawyers and officials is just as likely as Obama reversing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" tomorrow.

(via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

Technorati tags: torture · enhanced interrogation techniques · torture memos · john mccain · geneva convenction · republicans