The Tortured Art of Torturer Protection

There is a queer little dance going on to insure no one is punished for all of the torturing that filled the past decade.

• The people who did the torturing get off because they were just following orders.
• The people who planned and justified the torturing get off because they were just ignorant twits.
• The people who ordered the torture get off because....

Okay, this last one is a toughie. Partly, you just don't charge the former president for the war crimes he committed because it wouldn't be collegial. Partly, the current president might want to do the same thing or at least use the results of past torture. Partly, there is an old rule in royalty that the current king does not hang the former king lest hanging kings becomes a habit.

Bottom line? John Yoo will not be punished (except by having to hold his Stanford law classes at secret locations) because being he is only an idiot and didn't get any actual blood on his hands. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld are found blameless because they were just following the advice of the idiot Yoo. As for the hands-on people connected to torturing people? Hell, they are getting medals.

This doesn't mean nobody is being punished because of the torture. Defense attorneys are still at risk.