To Finish Some Unfinished Business

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that a majority of Americans are in favor of investigating whether the Bush administration tactics in the "war on terror" broke the law.

Here's the break down:

Close to 2/3 of those surveyed said there should be investigations into allegations that the Bush team used torture to interrogate terrorism suspects and its program of wiretapping U.S. citizens without getting warrants.

Almost 4 in 10 favor criminal investigations

About 1/4 want investigations without criminal charges

And 1/3 said they want nothing to be done

On the issue of alleged attempts by the Bush team to use the Justice Department for political purposes, the breakdown is even more significant:

4 in 10 favored a criminal probe

3 in 10 want an independent panel

25% neither

A variety of political positions:

The ACLU and other groups are pressing for inquiries into whether the Bush administration violated U.S. and international bans on torture and the constitutional right to privacy.

Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., this week proposed a "truth commission" to assemble facts. "We need to get to the bottom of what happened and why," he said.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., has called for a panel that would gather facts and make recommendations, and could possibly lead to prosecutions. "This isn't payback," he said. "We are getting things straightened out for the future."

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., put forth the Republican viewpoint. "If every administration started to re-examine what every prior administration did, there would be no end to it," he said. "This is not Latin America."

Finally, President Obama said, "my general orientation is to say, let's get it right moving forward."

Maybe 'getting it right' means finishing some unfinished business!!!