Glenn Greenwald believes that the motivation for the Democrats caving on FISA is that leading Democrats are themselves legally liable for their complicity.

He then cites Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side. Her book documents some of the torture and knowledge of the illegality of senior Bush administration officials, and she has a fascinating response in an online chat on the Washington Post:

New York, N.Y.: In your interview with Harper’s yesterday, you said that this about why war crimes prosecutions are unlikely: “An additional complicating factor is that key members of Congress sanctioned this program, so many of those who might ordinarily be counted on to lead the charge are themselves compromised.”

What did you mean by that? Who specifically is compromised ” who might ordinarily be counted on to lead the charge are themselves compromised” — Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, Jay Rockefeller? — and how are they “compromised”?

Jane Mayer: The ranking members of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees were briefed dozens of times about the CIA’s interrogation and detention program over the past seven years – so any member who has held one of those posts has arguably been complicit. Some say they tried to object, internally. But either because of the threat of violating national security, or, because of the fear of the political price of dissent, these figures in both parties would find it very hard at this point to point the finger at the White House, without also implicating themselves.

So it’s not just Bush and His Evil Minions^&trade who are war criminals. It’s also Jane Harmon, Jay Rockefeller, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and who knows who else amongst just the Democrats.