In his April 26 column, David Broder descends to a new low in his disgustingly evil campaign to prevent accountability for torture as a United States government policy. Sadly, he recognizes the key reason for investigations leading to prosecutions:

Their argument is that without identifying and punishing the perpetrators, there can be no accountability — and therefore no deterrent lesson for future administrations.

However, Broder just can’t live with the thought that his pals in the government might have to face up to the crimes they have committed. His very next sentence negates the one clear thought he had:

It is a plausible-sounding rationale, but it cloaks an unworthy desire for vengeance.

No. Just no. Broder just can’t accept the fact that he stumbled upon. Prosecutions are simply the only way administrations will learn that they cannot break the law with impunity. What do we have when the government is free to break the law without consequence? Dictionary.com provides a definition: "arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power". The word defined here is "tyranny". Broder is so afraid of the appearance of "vengence" that he chooses to embrace tyranny.

But the evil in his column continues:

But having vowed to end the practices, Obama should use all the influence of his office to stop the retroactive search for scapegoats.

This is not another Sept. 11 situation, when nearly 3,000 Americans were killed. We had to investigate the flawed performances and gaps in the system and make the necessary repairs to reduce the chances of a deadly repetition.

We have known for four years that over 100 detainees have died in US hands. To Broder, dead Americans require full investigation to prevent a "deadly repitition". Dead brown people who were tortured to death? Not so much.

Finally, Broder contorts himself yet again to join with those who try to paint prosecutions as a desire to "criminalize policy differences":

The memos on torture represented a deliberate, and internally well-debated, policy decision, made in the proper places — the White House, the intelligence agencies and the Justice Department — by the proper officials.

Substantial evidence is emerging that the process for developing torture authorization was warped and relied on selective use of advice received. Further, the required legal briefing for Congressional oversight also appears to have been gamed. A stroll through the past week at Emptywheel will provide much evidence on these fronts. This is evidence of criminal intent on the part of those who crafted the torture policy, yet Broder would have us shut down the investigation now and sing Kumbayah with those paved the way to negating the image of the United States as the leading defender of human rights.

Finally, Broder simply doesn’t trust the system of justice we have set up in our country. The laws and procedures surrounding them are set up to prevent arbitrary prosecutions. Rules of evidence and the requirement of proof "beyond a reasonable doubt" by a jury protect against prosecutions that would be mere political vendettas. Genuine lawbreaking that can be proven should be prosecuted, or we return to the opening theme above of tyranny when the government can break laws without consequence.

Here is Broder describing just how little trust he has in our system of justice:

That way, inevitably, lies endless political warfare. It would set the precedent for turning all future policy disagreements into political or criminal vendettas. That way lies untold bitterness — and injustice.

Try again, Mr. Broder. The only injustice I see here is your drive to sweep obvious crimes under the rug. If there are no prosecutions for these crimes, then it is only a matter of time until a future administration decides to take up these disgusting practices again.

[While making final edits on this post, I noticed that Scarecrow beat me to responding to Broder's column. I'll still pile on since the column is so disgusting...]