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Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by stefan_ on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @06:44PM (#24359076)
The historical track record isn't good. Nobody bothered much with prosecuting nazis or nazi collaborators after WW2, Stasi spies after the reunion, party members after the soviet collapse, AT&T and others for collaborating with the NSA on warrantless surveillance (that was Bush) or the CIA torturers (that was Obama).

"[N]othing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past … we must resist the forces that divide us, and instead come together on behalf of our common future."

Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by laughinghan on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @07:14PM (#24359294)
I'm confused by your Bush and Obama references—both incidents occurred under Bush, the one that you attribute to Bush was revealed under Obama, whereas the one you attribute to Obama was revealed under Bush.

Are you attributing based on occurrence or based on decision not to prosecute? Did you accidentally switch them?

Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by Igelau on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @08:24PM (#24359698)
It appears to be trying to say "no one prosecuted the CIA torturers (and the Obama administration should have)." Implying not that his administration was behind it, but that his administration failed to do anything about it after the fact. Which may or may not be a fair point.
Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by 0xdde on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @07:44PM (#24359481)
Do you have some deeper point you're trying to get at? This sounds like a total nitpick, and I'm not sure where you're getting your erroneous corrections from.

The illegal wire-tapping was a matter known to the public before Obama's time and there was a case brought by the EFF during the Bush years. The CIA torture comment most likely refers to the fact that a Senate report on CIA abuses was published during Obama's tenure and led to no punishment that I'm aware of.

Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by BoorishBears on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @07:57PM (#24359553)
It is plain as day the current language in the comment is implying Obama was behind it. A clarification to that is pretty far from a nitpick.
Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by Igelau on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @08:27PM (#24359713)
Polarizing much? When you get to "or the CIA torturers" back up and find the verb. It's just poor sentence structure.
Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by versteegen on Thursday September 03, 2020 @01:31AM (#24361026)
I can see your argument that it's ambiguous, but the wrong reading is the most natural one to me. Clarification is justified.
Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by kelnos on Thursday September 03, 2020 @04:59AM (#24362106)
Just another data point: I read it same as the parent, that the original text was referring to the fact that the Obama administration didn't prosecute the torturers (regardless of when it occurred).

It seemed obvious to me that the point being made was that neither party seems to care to hold wrongdoers in government accountable for their actions.

Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by ethagnawl on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @07:17PM (#24359313)
"During the early stages of the Iraq War, United States Army and _Central Intelligence Agency_ personnel committed a series of human rights violations against detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq,[1] including physical and sexual abuse, torture, rape, sodomy, and murder.[2][3][4][5] The abuses came to public attention with the publication of photographs of the abuse by CBS News in _April 2004_."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_torture_and_prisone...

Re:Ninth Circuit rules NSA's bulk collection of Americans' c... by codethief on Wednesday September 02, 2020 @08:13PM (#24359632)
While not many Nazis and Stasi agents got convicted at the end of the day (mostly due to a lack of clear evidence), many of them at least were tried in a proper court. In case of the US intelligence agencies, however, not even that is happening.