General Discussion

merrily

(45,251 posts)

31. Yes, and I appreciate that. However, there is legal technicality and then there is public

Thu Dec 11, 2014, 01:21 AM

Dec 2014

Last edited Thu Dec 11, 2014, 04:26 AM - Edit history (1)

perception. Outside the Beltway, people reviled Ford for granting Nixon a pardon (probably part of the deal Poppy Bush made with Nixon on behalf of the Republican Party to get Nixon to resign and end the damage to the Party of having the Watergate news stories, daily hearings and lawsuits continue--JMO).

Inside the Beltway, they know Ford supposedly carried on his person until the day he died a copy of something saying that accepting a pardon is evidence of guilt. I would quibble with that. Maybe it's just evidence of not wanting to serve your sentence, or evidence of wanting to vote again someday. However, that is what Ford clung to.

In public perception, though, I think a pardon means some kind of exoneration, or at least redemption. And members of Bushco could always refuse it and thereby thwart even the inside the Beltway rationale for offering a pardon that no one ever asked for!

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Highlight:

NYT Op-ed: Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured [View all] ErikJ Dec 2014 OP

The fact that they asked for pardons MiniMe Dec 2014 #1

Sorry to disagree, but a UN treaty to which the US is party and domestic law already prove merrily Dec 2014 #2

"Obama granted unofficial immunitypardon" ucrdem Dec 2014 #6

"We need to look forward...." daleanime Dec 2014 #8

So he issued no such pardon. Thanks! nt ucrdem Dec 2014 #10

Unofficial? daleanime Dec 2014 #12

What part of "unofficial" is too complicated for you? Didn't prosecute, did he? Just let the merrily Dec 2014 #14

+1 daleanime Dec 2014 #7

Yes, and I appreciate that. However, there is legal technicality and then there is public merrily Dec 2014 #31

But it will be the only way to officially recognize crimes occurred. ErikJ Dec 2014 #15

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

I wasn't aware there was a statute of limitations on war crimes. Maybe I shraby Dec 2014 #3

There are those who feel Eichmann's trial was unjust Algernon Moncrieff Dec 2014 #5

Committing genocide, including of Jews who are fellow Germans in Germany, is not a war. merrily Dec 2014 #16

I doubt that a pardon will mean anything to ICC. jwirr Dec 2014 #29

The other reason for a pardon is that it eliminates their 5th Amendment shelter Algernon Moncrieff Dec 2014 #4

If it leads to the US stopping these practices.... daleanime Dec 2014 #13

Immunity doesn't necessarily get you the truth. merrily Dec 2014 #17

And to your pardon I'll call you and raise you a prosecute. lonestarnot Dec 2014 #9

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

Allowing the use of torture was one of GW's worst mistakes Albertoo Dec 2014 #11

Bush was not the only one who "allowed" it. merrily Dec 2014 #18

extraordinary rendition is another -more complex- issue. Albertoo Dec 2014 #22

Extraordinary rendition is shipping our prisioners overseas to be TORTURED by merrily Dec 2014 #24

The difference between torture and rendition Albertoo Dec 2014 #25

Extraordinary rendition is not what you are describing. It is forcing people often uncharged with uppityperson Dec 2014 #26

I told him that in Reply 24. And he may well have known before that. merrily Dec 2014 #32

Did you read my post? Stop with the foreign soil. We flew them from the US to places like Syria. merrily Dec 2014 #27

To merrily & uppity, to clarify Albertoo Dec 2014 #34

You raised all that before and it has already been responded to. merrily Dec 2014 #35

Apparently, it's your turn to overlook what I wrote Albertoo Dec 2014 #37

I don't think it was a mistake YoungDemCA Dec 2014 #20

So we disagree on two issues Albertoo Dec 2014 #23

Crikey. Even John McCain thinks torture is a mistake. merrily Dec 2014 #36

I mean that Bush and Cheney didn't do it on accident YoungDemCA Dec 2014 #39

unfortunately, I think this is exactly what Obama may do. yurbud Dec 2014 #21

Obama disagrees. Tierra_y_Libertad Dec 2014 #33

Not torture... enhanced interragation... intearagatin... damn... mikelewis Dec 2014 #38