A Banana Republic
The talking point de jour among Republicans is that only in a banana republic would an administration investigate and prosecute the conduct of a prior administration (even if that conduct includes war crimes!). Just so I have this straight, though, I want make a list of what banana republics do and don't do:Banana republics do:-investigate and prosecute potential war crimes committed by a prior administration.Banana republics do not:-capture people from all over the world and put them in secret blacksite prisons for the purposes of torturing them-capture their own citizens off the street and hold them incommunicado for years on end without filing any charges against them-instruct their government lawyers to draft eleborate legal opinions detailing how many hours per day they can subject people to simulated drowning or lock them in a tiny box with insects-set up kangaroo tribunal systems for trying alleged terrorists in which the defendants are not allowed to see the evidence against them and coerced confessions are admissible-authorize secret warrantless surveillance programs that violates longstanding criminal laws-use trumped up intelligence (including statements obtained via torture) to justify unprovoked military invasions of another countryGood to know.
posted by A.L.
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