As badly as I want the Obama administration to do this, I worry that it's going to be very difficult and very distracting at a time when they're already overextended.

On the other hand, it's the least we can do on behalf of anyone interrogated using torture.

There are many balls in the air at the moment. Nobody can juggle them all and Obama shouldn't try. He really needs to have a "win" or two before going off and doing stuff like this.

This may be another wrinkle: Could Bush Invoke Executive Privilege After Leaving Office?

Bush could invoke, but it's never been taken to court.

At the very least, an investigation might lead to some sort of truth and reconciliation format-- "go forth and sin no more." Or something. It just sticks in my craw that these guys are going to get away with this undoubtedly while painting the Dems with the same brush.

The truth is that a lot of this has happened before and just might happen again. We should have gone through the "trouble" of putting Nixon on trial, in order to send a signal that some things can't be tolerated.

Biden in early September (10 or 12 paragraphs down): Biden also promised that an Obama-Biden government would go through Bush administration data with "a fine-toothed comb" and pursue criminal charges if necessary. "If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation," he said, "they will be pursued, not out of vengeance, not out of retribution - out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one, no attorney general, no president, no one is above the law."