Why Bush, Cheney, et al unlikely to be prosecuted

Two reasons, actually,... one being derived from the other.

Okay, the "official" reason is largely couched in florid, samaritan-like semantics, and its reasoning goes something like this: We're in the midst of two wars and an already-catastrophic economic crisis, therefore time is of the essence and wasting time on recriminations is an untenable response to the immediate dangers we face, etc, etc.... which boils down to good ol' Christian charity,... forgive-and-forget,... won't solve anything,.. more important work to do,.. umm,... you get the idea. Thus we are given to believe that the incoming Obama administration had already made some sort of deal,.. issued some sort of assurances to the outgoing regime that no (or only minor, symbolic) legal actions would be aimed at them. Time to heal,... bind up the wounds,... the list could (and will) go on forever.

Of course, there is the related and not entirely inconceiveable underlying notion that to take serious legal action against the Bush-neocon reich would be an open admission to the rest of the world that, Yes, it can happen here,... Yes, for eight years the greatest democracy in history was actually under the control of neo-nazis,... and No,.. all you Brits and Bolivians and Turks and Aussies never should have trusted us then (so why should you trust us now?) Anyone can figure out this particular corollary,... sort of a face-saving thing, if you will. Let's just all get back to being AMERICA, right?

Unfortunately, Reason #1 is BS on a scale only dreamed of in Madison Avenue ad agencies,..... but without Reason #1, the stage would be set for Reason #2,... and that one is really scary,... mainly because it is true.

By levelling serious Constitutional charges against the apparent bad guys, we would be taking the thing into court. Evidence would be seen,... testimony heard,.. and undoubtedly some of the "bad guys" would roll over on the REAL bad guys,.... the actual power behind the Bush throne, if you will,... and that is an eventually those powers simply will not permit. To wit: Sure Cheney played loose with the law with that secret Energy Panel deal,..... but who else was in the room, eh?
And where did all those unaccounted-for billions in reconstruction money really go, hm? Oh, and what about those much-discussed election-tampering schemes? Who had the money and power and initiative to pull that off? Surely not the bumbling republicans. Not all by themselves. Again,.... another list which could (and should) go on forever. The trials would turn into the undoing and the revelation behind ALL the conspiracy theories,.... and we would finally learn something about who's REALLY running this show.

Yes,.... possibly even the show we're currently watching........ those bailouts would be a good place to start.

I agree with your premise that our political system and power elite will not tolerate a truth and reconciliation system that would end up with either a prosecution or political trial (defacto impeachment) of boooosh or cheney. In many ways, the history books will be their ultimate verdict, depicted as corrupt and failures...a legacy they won't be able to avoid. But that's part of that semantics game that feels good, but doesn't address the real crimes that have happened over the past 8 years.

Their war crimes have long been beyond the American political and justice system...it is an International problem. It led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people, perpetrated torture and other violations of the Geneva Convention and other laws. There needs to be a worldwide call for a tribunal to investigate, and if needed, prosecute those that launched a war for profit and bring both justice and shame. Now are the power elite strong enough to fend off world justice? Especially now that their financial house of cards is crumbling? And do leaders and the UN have the juevos to push forward on this?

The justice we can have is to use a rejuvenated Justice Department and focus on the many low and mid level crimes that occured. And there are many. It's fereting out the Goodlings and other political hacks who put party above country and enabled the boosh regime to destroy virtually everything it touched. If the politicians don't have the will, the civil court can and should. These goons should never have a solid night's sleep as they have to remain accountable for their crimes.

Cheers...

In fact, I'm thinking of Ned Beattie's powerful rant in the film "Network." And the "crimes" go back much further than 8 years. For instance, how did 7 mpg SUV's get classified by Congress as "trucks" for all those soccer moms? Or go back to the BCCI affair during the late 80's which actually involved the Bush family, the Saudis, international crime, money laundering, the CIA, suspicious software turning up in the Treasury Dept,... and included the not-believeable "suicide" of investigative reporter Nick Casolero. (The MSM were on this one for a week, then dropped it like a hot potato. Who made them drop it?) The 9-11 incongruities come to mind. And the Watergate-era press would have had Bush for lunch based solely on the ENRON scandal.... where were they in 2001? And virtually every event in the run-up to the Iraq War fails to pass ANY test of credibility. That war may have been "launched" by politicians, but it was ordered by someone else. Screw the politicians,.. I want to get to the "someone else." And the World Court? Whomever we're discussing here has no international or geopolitical boundaries. And I'm also betting that they are well aware of when so-called "peak oil" will be reached (or has already been reached),... along with all the other impending ramifications of various planetary resource depletions, ecological and environmental destruction,.. over-population consequences, etc. etc. Is someone out there hunkering down for the worst? That would explain a lot, no?

Am I a conspiracy freak? No. Because it seems rationally plausible to me that all these things CAN be known by whomever is in the position to know them.... Murphy's Law, eh? Whatever CAN happen, WILL happen. And everything we've been seeing, no matter how inexplicable,... makes a lot more sense when we dismiss politics as political theater, look past it and find out who the directors and producers of that theater might be.

Ford pardoned Nixon, we got Iran-Contra...

Clinton ignored Iran-Contra we got the Bush Fascists...

Obama ignoring the Bush Fascists we get ....