David Broder is off to quite a start in today’s WaPo chat:
Broder:….But I think the imperative now is for him (Obama) to show strength and willpower, especially after the North Koreans and the Pirates have shown they don’t put much stock in his strong words.
[….]New York, NY: Regarding the many and unvarying reasons given by American pundits, press and pols for not investigating torture and other war crimes during the Bush Administration, I just want to raise the fact that Britain also has a financial crisis to deal with. They also have a “future,” not just a past, to address. They also have faced, and still face, terrorist threats. Criminal investigations and prosecution would also be controversial for them and create partisan divisions. But they’re still proceeding to investigate credible allegations of serious crimes on the part of their government officials. That’s what the “rule of law” means. So what the heck happened to that quaint concept here in the good old U.S.A.?
David S. Broder: I’m not familiar with what the Brits are doing or if they have their own Abu Ghraibs to investigate. But I understand the reluctance to open a wide-ranging probe of past practices. It seems to me we are better off focusing on cleaning up the policies and practices for the future than trying to settle scores for past actions.
Update. He seems to have gone full neocon:
What I’m saying is that when you say as he has said, “there must be consequences” for aggressive acts, there must be consequences. You remember the boy who cried “Wolf”
[….]But you saw what happened when the North Korean missile test was taken to the United Nations. Wimps.
