(updated below w/transcript)

Scott Horton wrote the cover story for the current edition of Harper's (sub. req'd) -- entitled "Justice after Bush:  Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration" -- in which he argues that it is imperative to investigate, expose, and prosecute the Bush administration's war crimes, particularly its torture of detainees.  Scott sets forth a detailed proposal for how this should be pursued, beginning with the creation of a Truth Commission to expose what was done and to generate public support for further proceedings, followed by prosecution.

I spoke to Scott today on Salon Radio regarding this article, and we discussed:

• what distinguishes the Bush administration's lawlessness from the isolated lawbreaking of past Presidents ("This administration did more than commit crimes.  It waged war against the law itself");
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• why -- of all the Bush crimes -- torture is, in Scott's words, "not only the crime that most clearly calls for prosecution but also the crime that is most likely to be successfully prosecuted";
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• whether the limited retroactive immunity bestowed on war criminals by the Detainees Treatment Act and Military Commissions Act is a barrier to such prosecutions;
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• whether it should be a defense for high level government officials that the Bush DOJ issued legal opinions authorizing these interrogation programs and asserting that they were legal;
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• how the issuance of presidential pardons could be overcome;
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• what the benefits are of beginning with a Truth Commission, rather than having the DOJ simply investigate and prosecute.

I also asked Scott his views of likely Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, and they were roughly similar to the ones I expressed earlier today.

The discussion is approximately 25 minutes in length and can be heard by clicking PLAY on the recorder below.  A transcript will be posted shortly (on a different note, details concerning the superb open-to-the-public panel discussion of the issues raised by Scott's article, which Scott described at the end of the interview and which will take place on the evening of December 4, at the NYU School of Law, are here).

UPDATE:  The transcript is here.