It's as disgusting as something gets: let the criminals go Scott free.

Obama intends to let off those CIA officials who tortured others during the George Bush regime. The reason? Because these thugs were told their acts were legal by the Bush administration. It's Nuremberg defense all over again.

Apparently, as long as you believe you are following a lawful order, you have no obligation to check the law for yourself, much less employ your conscience or have one. There has never been a tyrant and his henchmen in the history of humanity that hasn't employed the same rationalization for their brutalities.

Not only that, it will happen again, since all you need is the belief in said "lawful" orders to carry out these heinous acts.

You’re a young leftist president whose chances of reelection in an age of terror depend in no small part on the effectiveness of the CIA. Do you (a) choose to alienate the agency less than three months into your term by prosecuting members for loyally acting on the former president’s orders or (b) choose to alienate your nutroots base, who have near-zero influence in national elections and will end up voting for you anyway after they observe the mandatory 24-hour mourning period for this “betrayal”?

Maybe he can throw right-wing extremists at tea parties into secret prisons in Poland.

Vee have vays to make you do vut vee vant!

So doing the right thing, the moral thing is useless and marks you as a nutjob.

And if the CIA is so loyal and patriotic, why would they leave the country defenseless after justice is administered?

Also considering the numbers mobilized by the netroots last time around (as well as the money) I would not say that they don't have any pull.

I was just following orders.

Sieg Heil!

What an irony it is that Bush imprisoned thousands of mostly innocent people, tortured them, killed who knows how many, ruined the health of who knows how many, and all the while he was the terrorist.