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In reply to the discussion: NYT Op-ed: Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured [View all]merrily
(45,251 posts)19. Ford clung to that after he pardoned Nixon, but a lot of people think it means you were not
guilty or that you were not guilty of anything really bad. And it doesn't prove a damn thing except that someone took it into his or her head to grant you a pardon. They never sought one and, at this point, they don't need one. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they refused it.
No president in history has been prosecuted
And? Does that mean no President ever should be? For anything? (I hope no one cites Lincoln suspending habeas corpus. The Constitution allowed that.)
We sure prosecuted the Germans, didn't we, down to judges. How bad does that make us look? We'll go into other countries to prosecute people, but not take out our own trash--and if anyone else tries to prosecute, we'll make sure they don't?
Among many other things, they violated a multinational treaty as well as domestic law. How damaging is that--or should it be--to our ability to get other nations to sign treaties?
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Sorry to disagree, but a UN treaty to which the US is party and domestic law already prove
merrily
Dec 2014
#2
What part of "unofficial" is too complicated for you? Didn't prosecute, did he? Just let the
merrily
Dec 2014
#14
Yes, and I appreciate that. However, there is legal technicality and then there is public
merrily
Dec 2014
#31
Ford clung to that after he pardoned Nixon, but a lot of people think it means you were not
merrily
Dec 2014
#19
The point that I got listening to him was that if the case is left unsettled then the door is left
jwirr
Dec 2014
#28
Committing genocide, including of Jews who are fellow Germans in Germany, is not a war.
merrily
Dec 2014
#16
The other reason for a pardon is that it eliminates their 5th Amendment shelter
Algernon Moncrieff
Dec 2014
#4
I agree but how are we going to get a prosecution? If it were that easy it should have been done a
jwirr
Dec 2014
#30
Extraordinary rendition is not what you are describing. It is forcing people often uncharged with
uppityperson
Dec 2014
#26