Another Ambinder

Here is an excerpt from his post today on torture:

"Now, Obama has been silent on the possibility of prosecuting CIA officers or Bush administration officials for their past illegalities. My guess is that he personally opposes them. But perhaps he recognizes the need for some sort of public accounting.

...Obama might not be able to stop Justice from prosecuting CIA officers. If investigations are initiated, the White House can't very well intervene to stop them. It is tempting to think that Obama is granting himself plausible deniability here; the White House can express its opposition to prosecution but say that the U.S. Attorneys' independence is a cornerstone of our legal system, and nothing can be done."

Plausible deniabilty...interesting. I hadn't thought of it as being a way for some good to come out of the torture scandals. Hmm...