Law & Order tackles accountability for torture. Art imitating life?

I saw the episode which aired last night. It was a great episode. If only we have Jack McCoys in Congress and Senate.

"Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?"

"The word is 'torturing.' And yes — it's about time somebody did."

If you watch Law & Order tonight, you'll see that the "Jack" laying down the gauntlet on accountability for torture is veteran district attorney Jack McCoy. What McCoy understands is that in America, the rule of law applies to everyone. No one is above the law, not even (and some might say especially) the most powerful.

In this fictionalized but typically "ripped from the headlines" episode, McCoy decides to prosecute an author of a Justice Department legal memo authorizing torture, as well as his co-conspirators up the chain of command, including Vice President Cheney. ("This is an instruction on how to commit a crime and avoid prosecution," says McCoy's assistant D.A., referring to the torture memo. "A surgical parsing of words to draw hair-splitting distinctions between severe pain and extreme pain." "I know what we're talking about, sir. I don't need a memo to tell me what torture is," says a retired Army captain.)

In real life, there has yet to be an investigation into the high-level authorization of torture, a crime that has stained the reputation of our nation at home and abroad.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-d-romero/emlaw-orderem-tackles-acc_b_300023.html