I note the wording with unabiding interest.

Not, "We did not torture. That's ridiculous. This nation does not torture, and anyone who says otherwise is insane."

Not, "Listen, this nation was founded upon the principle that we shall be governed not by the whims of one man, but by the rule of the collective law. I have devoted my life to the rule of law; I love the law. I would give my life to the law. I swore to defend the Constitution, and that oath means everything to me. If anyone thinks that I would act in violation of that oath, they are mad."

No.

Rather, we get "these activities...were authorized, they were supported by documents at the Department of Justice."

Pathetic. Spineless, craven, and pathetic. Good riddance.

I do hope his predictions on this are on a par with the rest of his legal skills.

An opinion by the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department does not have the force of law and cannot permit what the laws prohibit.

It is time to end this pernicious poisoning of American governance and to hold accountable those who violate the laws of the United States.

In his stirring dissent in Olmstead v. U.S., 277 U.S. 438 (1928), Justice Louis Brandeis declared:

“Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. . . .”

All of those in the Bush administration who committed crimes against the United States must be brought to justice without delay so that future government officials will be on notice that they will be held accountable for their crimes.

Zachary, there is a little typo in the final paragraph. Instead of "has", you have "ha".

Then again, maybe Gonzo's tasteless gall could make that mistake happen.

He's demonstrating a characteristic of the conservative mindset: If I play by the rules, I'm completely blameless.

Related: Their abject obliviousness to the concept of responsibility.

I can see Obama issuing a pardon for all members of the Bush administration, clearly laying out the facts about all of the laws and parts of the Constitution they violated. That would get the record clear that Bush and his administration were beneath contempt, little more than a crime family, and abhorrent to the world. But, it would stop the distractions that further pursuit of them would cause. I'm not saying this is my preferred approach, but I suspect it will be Obama's.

BTW: Gonzo is probably secure because of the "GET OUT OF JAiL FREE" cards he had printed up and signed while still in his appointment...

Actually we should prosecute Gonzo and all others for torture if we ever want to get credibility around the world and live at peace with our selves.
War on terror Must End

Obama must declare nonequivocally the Crusade against Peace loving Muslim under the Banner of “War on terror” if he ever wants to reverse the economic downturn. The effect of this Executive Order or even simple declaration in a speech would be much stronger on the American Psyche than any misguided economic stimulus which is taking us nowhere.
He should declare to the world that Bush’s War on Terror is over and from now on we would pursue a “Mission for Peace and Prosperity” with all peace loving nations.

He has to declare that change cannot materialize if we keep the conceptual framework inherited from a hate mongering administration who alienated the whole world, we cannot march toward a peaceful future. The false concept of “War on terror” has been internalized by many Americans that they cannot accept any idea of peace unless the most powerful man in the world declare the war is over and we have to think Peace! Bush’s propaganda machine governs by scaring people, scaring people from riding bus, taking a train, smallpox, flying plane, going to courts, walking to federal offices, scaring from making phone calls or surf the internet. Psychologically scared people obey authority and succumb to its omnipotent rein of terror who rules them by scaring them into the total submission.
Why the misnomer “War on Terror” should be over? War on terror not only actually terrorized the world, Muslim World in particular; but also forced us to internalized the concept in every day life. We see the world through the dark glasses that Bush, Cheney, and all who wrote “The Project for New American Century “ for us way before 911 and declared that we need an “accident like Pearl Harbor” to make American follow their scheme.
Obama simply can not accomplish change unless make his declaration of Independence from Bush’s war on terror. If he does not declare the end of the War on Terror, there would be millions who follow the hate mongers like Sean Hannity, Glen Back, Rush Limbogh and the host of talk radio and Fox news who would use this out dated concept to derail any and all his policies.

We have to declare to the world that we are sorry just the previous administration lied to the public to advance its agenda of Invading Iraq. Collin Powel lied blatantly to the United Nation about weapons of mass destruction. More than four thousands Americans have lost their lives in addition to more than 30 thousands seriously injured all for a lie. We are still in Afghanistan killing Resistance Frot and naming them Taliban. Nobody has ever asked what these guys ever did to us. So far as the world knows there were never an Afghani on the 911 list of supposed Muslim on the planes! Why are we in Afghanistan ? Why are we killing Pakistanis, they never attacked the American soil. But, we do it under the Bush’s Flag of the “War on Terror”.

What is the War on Terror?

War on Terror is an abstract concept, it is not a nation that we are at war; but we are fighting a fabricated concept that is why Obama must end it now otherwise we would be chasing the shadow that we created and indoctrinate our children to believe in, for ever. We must tear down this misguided conceptual framework of “ War on terror” if we want peace and prosperity for ourselves and the world. You must ask yourself The answer seems to be no for an increasing number in the West who are weary over Afghanistan and Iraq or complacent from the absence of a major attack on the scale of 9/11.

The British Foreign Office has scrapped the phrase "war on terror" as inexact, inflammatory and counterproductive. U.S. Central Command has just dropped the term "long war" to describe the fight against radical Islam. Zbigneiw Brezizinsky , has called it a false idea. In reality the whole thing is a “make-believe” world that Bush administration fabricated so the public accept his plan invasion of Iraq! No one has ever confessed, or systematically related to the 911 after five years are torture we still do not know what happened in 911, who plan it how it was financed, where and how these men communicated and finally how they executed it! Just like the normal crime investigation who planned it and who was the beneficiary of the crime! For all we know the beneficiary of the crime were the owner of World trade center, who pulled down the building number 7, Israeli Security and X-Ray machine industries, the US Military and Cheney’s Halli- burton, Carlyle, Black Cat , every body else was a loser.
The Crime of the Century remain the least investigated crime in history which except the fabricated utterances of Bush administration we have no evidence, no confession, no claim and no conviction on the real criminals who conspired and executed such a well organized special Ops plan.
The People who are being held in Gitmo, are still being held without charges that can withstand even a military defense attorney‘s cross-examination. All those who tortured the hostages in Gitmo must now face the full force of international law for crime against humanity. As Obama declared we don’t torture and consequently his justice department must prosecute the criminals who ordered torture.
Prosecuting the torturers would clean our souls from crime against humanity ‘ would restore our international stature and would declare the end of War on Terror. It is by facing this realization that we finally leave the rein of terror alone and start a new era of peace and prosperity.
An influential book making the rounds - "Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them" - argues that the threat from al-Qaida is vastly exaggerated.

How many Plane Al Quaeda has hijacked? none. How many time its agents were caught boarding planes?, None! How many times, they have attacked us in the US? None!
How many Islamic charities that we banned did actually worked for Al Queada? None!
How many times we caught anyone in our Courtrooms entrances by X-Ray ? None!
Nobody has come to our soil and attacked us? Then, instead of waging “War on Terror” we should prosecute any and all persons who violated the law and forced us to believe that torture is right, Pre-emptive strike is correct and lying to invade Iraq was juts fine! These are the criminals who have destroyed our economy by an illegal war and brought shame to America, not Muslims who loved us and Islam that is a religion of peace.