The Current Lustration

"Lustration" is defined as a ceremonial purification (as opposed, sharply, to a real one), and is what the Rainbow Brite administration has embarked upon:

Holder said Monday he had chosen a veteran prosecutor, John Durham, to open a preliminary investigation to determine whether any CIA officers or contractors should face criminal charges for crossing the line on rough but permissible tactics. Durham already is investigating the destruction of CIA interrogation videos.

At the same time, President Barack Obama ordered changes in future interrogations, bringing in other agencies besides the CIA under the direction of the FBI and to be supervised by his own national security adviser. The administration pledged that questioning would be controlled by the Army Field Manual, with strict rules, and said the White House would keep its hands off the professional investigators doing the work.

Despite the announcement of the criminal probe, White House aides declared anew that Obama "wants to look forward, not back" at Bush-era tactics.

White House officials said they plan to continue the controversial practice of rendition of suspects to foreign countries, though they said that in future cases there would be greater safeguards to ensure such suspects are not tortured.

Ah, yes: "look forward, not back." Concerning which, a few things:

(1) Nothing that the "we're continuing extraordinary renditions" Obama regime will ever do will threaten even the smallest inconvenience -- much less anything approaching "justice" -- to anyone named Bush, or Cheney, or Yoo, or Goss. No one with a rank above Junior Spear-Carrier in the CIA or the military (as if there's a difference!) will be troubled at all ... certainly no one who wears a necktie to work every day. The focus of Holder's investigation will be narrow, indeed.

(2) Torture didn't start with the Bushies. And it most certainly did not end with their junta, either.

(3) Rainbow Brite's definitely looking forward -- to the time when he leaves office. He's clearly not interested in establishing a precedent whereby prominent war criminals are held to answer for their crimes. Gee ... I wonder why not? Hmmmmmm.

Finally, let's hear from Darth Cheney:

And former Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that the CIA's interrogation of terror suspects "saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks." In a statement, Cheney said those who carried out the interrogations "deserve our gratitude" and do not deserve "to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions."

No, those who carried out the interrogations deserve to have to go through the remainder of their lives wearing a bell, so that decent people -- assuming there are any -- may be warned of their approach. As for the likes of Cheney: well, he deserves to spend eternity just being himself. Eternally.