David Cole | November 10, 2010

In an uncoerced confession in his new memoir, Decision Points, former President George W. Bush proudly admits that he personally signed off on the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in 2003. Former Vice President Dick Cheney made the same admission in a televised interview shortly before he left office. In one sense, this is nothing new. It had long been reported that the CIA’s use of what the Bush administration euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation techniques” had been approved at the highest levels of the administration. But now both Bush and Cheney have publicly admitted to specifically signing off on the CIA’s torture tactics. Their direct personal admissions now seal the case against them.

These torture charges, although now admitted by both Bush and Cheney, have receded into the nether portions of America’s consciousness. The proper time and place was when Obama took office, but he made the conscious choice not to pursue charges.

He properly understood that if charges of torture were brought against Bush and Cheney that it would divide the nation even more starkly than it already is, and would obviate any other goals of his presidency.

He chose harmony rather than division, mercy rather than justice. He was probably right—-but let one thing be known for sure, the Republicans, in the same position, would have gone for the throat—like they did with the outrageously radical and foolish impeachment of Clinton. The Repubs didn’t mind the turmoil and the divisiveness, and it still remains a huge scar.

The Bush-Cheney administration was the worst in the history of the country. It led us into a criminal war, and ran roughshod over the rule of law whenever it suited their purposes, enabled Abu Ghraib, and deregulated every regulatory agency and it led to the greatest financial disaster since the Great Depression.

What case, you might ask? There is in fact no criminal or civil case against the former president or vice president for these actions. And both men no doubt felt comfortable admitting they had authorized what the world recognizes as torture because they believe they are politically immune from being held accountable. Even before the midterm elections, Barack Obama had insisted that he wanted only to look forward, not backward. With a strengthened Republican Party after the elections, it is even less likely that Bush or Cheney will be held accountable by the Obama administration. On November 9 the Justice Department announced that no criminal charges would be brought against the CIA agents who destroyed videotapes of the torture interrogations; that part of the cover-up, it seems, has succeeded.

But Bush and Cheney are not immune. In fact, the United States is legally obligated by the Convention Against Torture, a treaty we helped draft, and have signed and ratified, to investigate any credible allegations of torture by a person within (more…)