Although President Obama may be reluctant to confront this issue due to fear of the political divisions it may provoke, the legal precedent the Bush administration has set must be fundamentally reversed and can only be done so through prosecution. While some might attempt to portray those responsible as acting in the best interests of the country, their actions cannot be characterized as simply misguided. When a government official- in this case the former Vice President -acts based on his unqualified claim that the Constitution gives the President the power to deny American citizens their 4th Amendment rights and to 'robustly interrogate' (i.e. torture) them; and when that same government official claims that neither the Legislative nor Judicial Branch has the power to limit or oversee the Executive's interrogation policies, it becomes necessary to prosecute him.

The former Vice President's legal claims are treasonous to the Constitution and would inevitably lead to tyranny if any future Executive were allowed to act upon them. His leading role in the torture of 'detainees' and deliberate subversion of the American and international legal system is prosecutable. Far from expressing a sense of mistaken judgement, the former Vice President has continued to characterize himself as a guardian of American security despite reports and testimony from interrogators themselves that there is no proof that torture is necessary to obtain actionable intelligence. Interrogators have, in contradiction to the claims of the previous administration, affirmed their ability to gather actionable intelligence from hardened terrorists without resorting to torture.

The former Vice President clearly feels the need not only to defend himself on this issue but to pressure the current administration into morally and legally compromising itself as well. His efforts to corrupt the soul of this country by instilling fear into the American public are characteristic of him. The question is, will his actions in office be addressed through the legal system or will Americans' collective moral ambivalence signify their consent? The latter would portend a dark future for a nation that will have consciously chosen to cede it's liberty to tyrants- clothed, as always, as protectors.