The rule of law in Spain and in the United States - DiFi, Jello Jay, the CIA, and Obama

Glenn Greenwald has a good article at Salon in which he discusses one of the likely senior CIA folks who would be displeased if memos currently under consideration were to be made public, a certain Stephen Kappes.

Take Stephen Kappes. At the time of the worst torture sessions outlined in the ICRC report, Kappes served as a senior official in the Directorate of Operations—the operational part of the CIA that oversees paramilitary operations as well as the high-value detention program. (The directorate of operations is now known as the National Clandestine Service.) Panetta has kept Kappes as deputy director of the CIA—the number two official in the agency.
--John Sifton at The Daily Beast

And why is it that Stephen Kappes was made the number 2 officials at the CIA despite his being in a key CIA position during the implementation of America's torture regime? Because the two most important Senate Democrats on intelligence matters -- Jay Rockefeller and Dianne Feinstein -- insisted that he be so empowered as a condition for their supporting Panetta's nomination, after both of them first demanded that Kappes actually be made CIA Director.
--Glenn Greenwald at Salon (immediately following the preceding paragraph)

Ah, Dianne Feinstein, the gift that keeps on giving.

If any patriotic Americans feel like getting in a huff over the Spaniards it might be a good idea to review the fact that, according to our own laws and treaties, we are positively obligated to pursue possible war criminals. The Spaniards are willing to back off their legal pursuit if the U.S. undertakes its own investigations.

Right. Anyone here think we have the political will to do the right thing?

I am counting on Spain because when it comes to holding high officials accountable I, sad to say, have almost no confidence in our legal system. Our system is capable of handling this, but our Department of Justice and Congress simply don't have the teabags to do the right thing.

Greenwald notes:

Put another way, Obama has been far from neutral. At least thus far, he has been the prime agent working overtime to keep these illegal Bush policies as secret as possible and to shield them from any and all accountability.

One thing I love about blogs and the internet is access to information the traditional (read: corporate) media ignore. We can check facts, do research, disseminate news and updates, and organize to make our voices heard.

If anyone thought that progressives who complained about virtually everything Bush did are now going to roll over and agree with Obama on everything, guess again. We intend to hold him accountable to the People too.

Issues of torture, government secrecy, and evasion of the law are some of the areas where I am far from happy, no matter how good it is to have W and the Dick out of DC.



¡Viva España!
--the BB