The New York Times really wants Bush, Cheney held accountable for 'torture'

Two weeks after the New York Times published an op-ed explaining how formal pardons could be used to acknowledge wrongdoing by former Bush administration officials in regards to the CIA’s "torture" program, the newspaper’s editorial board on Monday urged the White House to prosecute former Vice President Dick Cheney.

"The question everyone will want answered, of course, is: Who should be held accountable? That will depend on what an investigation finds, and as hard as it is to imagine Mr. Obama having the political courage to order a new investigation, it is harder to imagine a criminal probe of the actions of a former president," the Grey Lady’s board wrote in an editorial, titled "Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses."

"But any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; the former C.I.A. director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos," the editorial continued. "There are many more names that could be considered, including Jose Rodriguez Jr., the C.I.A. official who ordered the destruction of the videotapes; the psychologists who devised the torture regimen; and the C.I.A. employees who carried out that regimen."

However, in an op-ed published on Dec. 9, 2014, titled "Pardon Bush and Those Who Tortured," American Civil Liberties Union's Executive Director Anthony D. Romero took a much more nuanced approach to the question of what should be done with those who authorized the U.S.’ "torture" program.

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