Opinion: In today’s pages: No trials for Bush, no water for L.A., no mercy for Atikins
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Columnist Tim Rutten says that even if they made torture official U.S. policy, top-ranking members of the Bush administration shouldn’t be tried:
It’s true that there are a handful of European rights activists and people on the lacy left fringe of American politics who would dearly like to see such trials, but actually pursuing them would be a profound -- even tragic -- mistake. Our political system works as smoothly as it does, in part, because we’ve never criminalized differences over policy.
Author Julie Salamon notes that more nurses, doctors, and hospitals are saying enough is enough. Kim Holmes and Walter Lohman of the Heritage Foundation wonder who will lead Asia, and writer Neal Pollack says even though Angelenos are running out of water, they don’t seem too worried.
The editorial board is pleased that Europe is finally stepping up sanctions on Iran, and that the state Senate is considering bills to prevent future housing market crises. But the board isn’t too happy about the chance that Manson family member Susan Atkins may be let out of prison:
Atkins has written a book, explored religions, taught classes. Has she been punished? Yes, of course; 37 years is not trivial. But Atkins gravely wounded our collective peace, and society has the right, even the obligation, to exact vengeance. For some criminals, including Atkins, the crime is so great that the price should be imprisonment until death.
On the letters page, Cheviot Hills’ Gordon Froede remembers receiving air-dropped aid from the Americans as a child in Berlin: ‘Today, like 60 years ago, we don’t need government initiatives to reestablish the United States as a kind and humanitarian nation. Just let the American people do what they do best: share their wealth with those less fortunate in the world.’
*Cartoon by Jimmy Margulies