First, on the piracy front, there's this article talking about the pirate who survived the Maersk Alabama incident arriving in New York for trial. It discusses some of the difficulties associated with this case, like trying someone whose real name and age aren't readily identifiable, who comes from a country with no laws, etc. But what I want to note is that he's being tried. He's not being thrown in some black-site prison as an "enemy combatant" and held without access to lawyers - he's being processed through the justice system, as he should be. This is encouraging, as is the apparent lack of support for Gitmo-style detention by the right. Now explain to me why we can't handle terrorism cases the same way?
Second, Obama seems open to investigating and prosecuting lawbreakers in the Bush administration who approved torture. Of course, as he himself mentions and as Greenwald points out (it's down a ways - incidentally, I'm thinking I should probably just turn my blog into a bunch of Greenwald and Balko links), that's not Obama's decision to make. It's Attorney General Eric Holder's, and we can only hope Holder does the right thing. There's noise that he might, at least.
Incidentally, Michael Mukasey and Michael Hayden: Epic. Fail. Seriously, how can you write a column about torture without noting that it's fucking illegal? Their column amuses me. They sound like little kids whining to Mommy about how Billy eats pizza every day but Mommy makes them eat green beans. "Mommy, mommy, they can torture, why can't we? Waaaaaa...." Can we put Mukasey and Hayden in time-out?
Update: Greenwald castigates those who think that Obama's the central figure in this prosecution/investigation drama. (Guilty as charged - see above. I really should just start linking to Greenwald and not adding my own thoughts.) He's not - it's Holder, and has always been Holder. Obama can scream until he turns blue about how we shouldn't be prosecuting Bush lawyers - Holder can do whatever he damn well pleases, and he should do whatever the law says he should do. Which, in this case, is investigate and prosecute if the evidence permits it. This isn't a political issue, or at least it shouldn't be.
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The Greenwald article is kind of interesting.
While I agree that the Bush Administration should be prosecuted for their illegal activities, the cynic in me is believing that Holder wouldn't be doing this because it's the right thing to do, but solely for the reason of sticking it to the republicans.
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