@quarkquarkquark, I agree with you that the prosecutions are going to have a huge downside if they go forward.
I disagree that approving waterboarding and other forms of torture is morally or legally excusable. It is a violation of our own laws, and the Geneva Convention. We have prosecuted other armies for practicing it on our troops.
More importantly, there is no evidence whatsoever that torture is even effective in the first place. We’ve heard, with no evidence, that waterboarding Zubaydah 80+ times prevented an attack on the Brooklyn Bridge—furthermore, with no evidence that ordinary interrogation techniques could, or did, provide this information. Many CIA officials, as well as the director of the FBI, have said torture produces bad information. Conservatives like to talk about a “ticking time bomb” fantasy scenario where torture may be hypothetically necessary, but until someone shows that it’s even effective in the first place, it’s a moot point.
Yes, prosecuting Bush administration officials as war criminals may well tear this country apart. The alternative is letting war criminals get away with it, and the entire world will realize we have a double standard. I don’t know what the lesser of two evils is. Hopefully, enough Americans will stop being cowards, and realize these actions for the evil that they are, so that prosecution is more politically feasible.