This is a really serious matter so the Dog is losing the third person shtick for the day. It'll be back tomorrow. The following is an actual letter that the Dog sent to President Elect Obama. If you would like to copy and send it under your own name, please feel free to do so.
Dear President Elect Obama;
Sir, congratulations on your recent election, I was proud to help to put a Democrat in the White House! I am sure that you will make a very fine President, but I do have a concern that has prompted this letter.
During the Primary season, I did not originally support you (I know, not the best way to get your help on this issue, but it will make sense in a minute) but when you said that one of your first acts as president would be to instruct your Attorney General to investigate the actions of the Bush Administration for possible illegality in regards to torture, that was enough to make me change my support from Sen. Clinton to you.
I am not in any way a single issue voter, except when it comes to torture. There is nothing more damaging to a society then for it to engage in state sponsored torture. It corrupts the very fabric of a nation. When the leadership of a country sanctions the inhumanity that is torture, it degrades the moral basis for that leadership’s right to govern. Worse, it splits a nation into those that torture, and those that might be tortured. As far as we know currently, no American citizen was tortured by our government. I have no doubts that under your administration, there will be no torture. But like a cancer that can sit dormant for years, if we do not investigate, indict, try, convict and punish all those that ordered and carried out torture, we may see this malignancy grow once you are out of office.
This Sunday you said that no one is above the rule of law. This is a great and should be true statement of what it means to be, at the very core, an American. Then you said that we should look forward, not backward. Perhaps I am wrong, but this seemed to indicate to me that you would be less than aggressive in pursuing those that might have tortured in the name of the United States. That, if true, is a very sad thing for all Americans.
It is hard for me to believe that this is your actual view. You are a lawyer, and an officer of the Court, for all that you are also a politician. There can be no equal justice if we are not willing to look for crimes in the past. Should the murderers of Civil Rights activists not be tried and convicted today, simply because we won the Civil Rights they were working for? Should we let criminals like Mr. Madoff off the hook simply because their crimes were not committed today? I believe in my heart that you would answer no to these questions.
Perhaps it is tactical, the way that you have been talking about this issue. We all know that the current presidents pardon powers are plenary and that any pardons that he might make in this matter could effectively prevent the investigation and trial of the perpetrators of these heinous acts. I speak of these acts in the factual instead of the alleged because the information we currently have shows concretely that War Crimes were committed against at least four US detainees, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad being the most well know.
With this level of prima fascia evidence if there is no investigation, then we are turning our backs on the rule of law. I understand that there will be enormous political pressure for investigating a former administration. I also understand that the nation faces many troubles the will require cooperation from the Republicans in Congress. However there can be nothing more important than the rule of law. I know that by saying that I am teaching my grandfather to shear sheep, but it is so important that I will risk telling you something you already know. If we allow this to pass by, we are saying to ourselves and world that law is a nice notion but that it will always bow to pressure. That could not be a sadder statement from the first modern democracy.
Please, Mr. President Elect, do not let that happen. Your nation is thirsty to be proud of itself again. We are dying to be the country we were taught we were in grade school again. The very fact of your election has gone a long way to redeeming that dream, please, Sir, do not fail to go that last mile. You have it in your power to make it clear that we are the country where the ideals, particularly the ideal of the rule of law, are held to be true and achievable. It will take courage, it will take will, but I have seen you and your campaign and I have complete faith that you have those, in abundance. All that I ask is that you use them, once again.
Sincerely,
Something The Dog Said.