Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) says he’s open to criminal prosecutions of Bush officials who crafted the legal justifications for waterboarding.
Speaking to a group of bloggers, Dodd said either the Judiciary Committee or Intelligence Committee should review the interrogation process, and if wrongdoing is discovered, prosecutions should follow.
“If people in fact did something that was illegal, they should be pursued,” Dodd said.
Dodd admitted the idea might be unpopular, but he compared possible prosecutions to the Nuremberg Trials for Nazis and said the rule of law must prevail.
“I know people don’t want to go back, and it’s uncomfortable,” Dodd said, adding: “My father was a prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. They were not a popular idea.”
Dodd said the example of Nuremberg demonstrates the need for accountability, dismissing the idea that “we’re just going to kind of wash our hands.”