Obama Feared Coup if He Prosecuted Bush

stephinrazin: A great article about Obama's fears of a national security coup if an attempt was made to charge Bush administration officials.

President-Elect Obama’s advisors feared in 2008 that authorities would revolt and that Republicans would block his policy agenda if he prosecuted Bush-era war crimes, according to a law school dean who served as one of Christopher EdleyObama’s top transition advisers.

"Dean Chris Edley volunteered that he’d been party to very high level discussions during Obama’s transition about prosecuting the criminals. He said they decided against it. I asked why. Two reasons: 1) it was thought that the CIA, NSA, and military would revolt, and 2) it was thought the Repugnants would retaliate by blocking every piece of legislation they tried to move (which, of course, they’ve done anyhow).

Afterwards I told him that CIA friends confirmed that Obama would have been in danger, but I added that he bent over backwards to protect the criminals, and gave as an example the DoJ’s defense (state secrets) of Jeppesen (the rendition arm of Boeing) a few days after his inauguration.

He shrugged and said they will never be prosecuted, and that sometimes politics trumps rule of law.

“It must not," I said.

“It shouldn’t," he said, and walked off."

stephinrazin: http://www.justice-integrity.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=460:obama-team-feared-coup-death-if-he-prosecuted-war-crimes&catid=44:myblog