When Will We Start to Hold the Power Elite Accountable?

While poorly paid, hard working Americans face relatively severe consequences should they engage in any type of misconduct no matter how small, government officials, bankers, CEOs, oil executives, in other words, the power elite, who are responsible for catastrophic damage, not only escape consequences of their misconduct, they often reap rewards for their egregious behavior.

Consider, for example, the bank teller, who is lucky to make $10/hour. If she inadvertently violates bank policy she can face relatively severe consequences. However, if she is a little more deliberate, and let's say adds a penny to balance out her cash drawer at the end of the day, she could possibly face jail time. That's right...jail time! For contributing her own money!

So, what are the latest reports of "misconduct" regarding the teflon coated, crème de la crème?

Well, it appears the Physicians For Human Rights author of "The Torture Papers" discovered evidence indicating that the Bush Administration conducted illegal and unethical human experimentation and research on detainees in CIA custody.  Experiments in Torture is the first report to reveal such information.

This evidence, of course,  could possibly open the door to potential additional legal liability for the CIA and Bush officials.  Nothing, as of yet, has materialized indicating that the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel determined that the alleged experimentation and research performed on detainees was lawful, as it did with the “enhanced” techniques themselves.

Escaping accountability for wrongdoing just because you're wealthy and powerful defies the rule of law. And it appears the current administration has no intention of preserving the equality of all its citizens before the law, as it is clear that those who reside at the lofty peak of American society are exempt.



Links:

Former President Bush said, while speaking to the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, Michigan that if he had it [deliberate undermining of the Geneva Conventions] to do over, he would.

"Yeah, we water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Bush said of the terrorist who master-minded the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. He said that event shaped his presidency and convinced him the nation was in a war against terror. "I'd do it again to save lives."

Interview with the lead medical author of the report, Dr. Scott Allen.

U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe

"Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.

SPC Bradley Manning, 22, (left) of Potomac, Maryland, was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad, where he was arrested nearly two weeks ago by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. A family member says he’s being held in custody in Kuwait, and has not been formally charged."