Prosecute the lot, or go on into infamy.

By Steve Hynd

By now you may have heard the news that Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed a prosecutor to look into allegations of CIA torture. Not all of the allegations, just those that involve CIA interrogators possibly going even further than the Bush administration's faked up legalese justifications "allowed" them to go.

That's not going nearly far enough.

``Responsibility for the torture program cannot be laid at the feet of a few low-level operatives. Some agents in the field may have gone further than the limits so ghoulishly laid out by the lawyers who twisted the law to create legal cover for the program, but it is the lawyers and the officials who oversaw and approved the program who must be investigated,'' said the Center for Constitutional Rights.

"The attorney general must appoint an independent special prosecutor with a full mandate to investigate those responsible for torture and war crimes, especially the high ranking officials who designed, justified and orchestrated the torture program,'' the center said in a statement.

"We call on the Obama administration not to tie a prosecutor's hands but to let the investigation go as far up the chain of command as the facts lead. We must send a clear message to the rest of the world, to future officials, and to the victims of torture that justice will be served and that the rule of law has been restored."

Even so, the current pretense of accountability was reportedly enough for CIA director Leon Panetta to begin cursing and threatening to quit.

I tell you what, Mr. Panetta - don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

And to the rest, from President Obama on down - either prosecute in full, from Bush on down, for infringement of international and thus by treaty U.S. law, or you can follow Panetta into infamy as aiders and abettors, complicit after the fact, in the crimes against humanity of a torturous regime.

I, for one, will turn my back on you all if you don't uphold all of the rule of law. This matter of humanitarian principle is too important to let partisan cheerleading get in the way.

Update. This from Spencer - Panetta has written another of his CYA letters to Agency employees which contains this gem:

As Director in 2009, my primary interest�when it comes to a program that no longer exists�is to stand up for those officers who did what their country asked and who followed the legal guidance they were given.

Funny. I would have thought his primary interest should be to uphold the law - all of the law. Ditto Obama. But neither are doing so.

The presidential statement was short and not too sweet:

The President has said repeatedly that he wants to look forward, not back, and the President agrees with the Attorney General that those who acted in good faith and within the scope of legal guidance should not be prosecuted. Ultimately, determinations about whether someone broke the law are made independently by the Attorney General.

Somebody play Taps for "Hope and Change".