Hypocrisy "R" Us

Friday, April 17, 2009
One of these things is not like the other:





Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a hint.

The photo on the left is the Bush cabinet, and by extension their cronies, who will not be prosecuted for condoning and authorizing torture at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

On the right is John Demjanjuk, being carried from his home in a wheelchair. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati needs to determine if he'll be deported to Germany to face trial for war crimes during World War II.

Can you say "double standard," boys and girls? I knew you could.

6 comments:

Megan said...

I have very little sympathy for anyone who claims that he should not stand trial because travel would be "torture". He's accused of pushing 29,000 people into the gas chamber at Sobibor.

Janiece said...

Me neither. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander, in my opinion.

Jerry Critter said...

The exact quote from the article is:

"[I]t is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution," While this statement seems to let off the people who actually did the torture, it may not let off the people in the Department of Justice who told them it was legal. Hopefully the people who justified torture will be prosecuted.

However, I am not holding my breath. This not one of Obama's finer decisions.

vince said...

Personally, I am appalled and outraged that those who actually committed the torture get to keep their jobs and won't be prosecuted. Torture is well defined, and "they said it was legal" is, quite frankly, no more a valid defense than "I was just following orders." This isn't about some highly technical interpretation of the law that the average person couldn't be expected to know about or figure out by themselves.

The top people who did the approval should be punished the worst. But those who carried out the torture could have refused to do so. Could at a minimum have quit rather than do the torture.

I am angry about this decision, and I call bullshit.

WendyB_09 said...

Shades of the Oliver North trials.

WendyB_09

Steve Buchheit said...

What Vince said. You know, sometimes in government work you have to decide if you have a spine and stand for what is right, or what is expedient. Sometimes those that choose expedient need to be hauled out as a lesson to the rest.

And it's not like it's the first time we've deported old Ivan the Terrible.