Last night, George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley delivered some refreshing straight-talk on the Rachel Maddow Show. Noting that conducting a criminal investigation into the authorization of torture and abuse of detainees by Bush administration officials is not only about values but is about enforcing the law, the good professor called for the appointment of a special prosecutor — just like we didI wonder aloud what Canada might do, in light of Spanish and British investigations into the matter. Apparently, little enough.
I cannot begin to stress, though, the problems caused for all members of the global community - and particularly for the United States - caused by such willful and flagrant refusal to adhere to the most basic standards of the rule of law. Should this stand, it will inevitably lead to a far more general perception that laws are merely for the "little people."
When such viewpoints become particularly flagrant, the "little people" have been known to renegotiate the social contract. Not always for the better - but certainly for the worse in regard to the elites of the previous era.
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