Torture memos

Sugar...I agree with everything you said.

But I am still not convinced that prosecution of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld et al even if there is compelling evidence that they conspired in the authorization of torture is still in the best public interest.

An example of balancing public interest with criminal prosecution...perhaps a bit far fetched.....

The political and military leaders who led an insurrection against the US called the Civil War.

Would the public interest have been served by the execution of Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, and the millions of Confederate foot solders ?

They were all given amnesty, I believe, because it was more in the public interest to "move ahead" then prosecute there individuals for treason. There was also a provision in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution enacted as part of the post-Civil War amnesty that they could never engage in government service again:

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disabilit