This would never happen here

Today the British Prime minister, David Cameron, admitted that the British Army shot and killed civilians, without provocation. He then apologized for it. No mush mouth. No weasel words.

Cameron's announcement accompanied the release of the Saville Report, the culmination of a 12 year investigation into the Bloody Sunday killings in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on January 30, 1972. It is unthinkable that Barack Obama would speak, or act, as boldly as the British Conservative PM did today.

The announcement was cheered by thousands in Guildhall Square, Londonderry. The crowd included survivors and relatives of the shootings. My wife attended the hearings in Guildhall, in 2002, and I've stood in the square and later on Derry's walls, looking down into Bogside, imagining those events, three decades ago.

We never got closure for Kent State. We never got impeachment for Iran/Contra or for torture or for illegal wire tapping. We won't get any justice for the pollution of the Gulf Coast either. However, for one day, we can see and hear victims vindicated, even if it's in another land.

Obama needs to get pushed

These were CRIMES. How is this difficult? Obama needs to be forced down that path he doesn't want to take. The small fry, the "few bad apples" went to prison. I have no problem with that. We were brought up to believe that "ve ver under orders" was no excuse.

But, how can Obama allow Rumsfeld, Cheney, Bush, Yoo, Beybe, Rice and Gonzalez to escape prosecution? If they violated treaties prohibiting torture, they have committed crimes. Article VI of the Constitution states, "...all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the Supreme Law of the Land... " Barack Obama took an oath to the best of his ability "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.