President Barack Obama speaking at the National Archives in Washington and former Vice President Dick Cheney speaking at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Thursday, May 21, 2009. (AP)

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A very unusual showdown this week. The duly elected president of the United States, months after his election, grappling center stage over fundamental national security questions with an ex-vice president who hasn’t faced voters in almost five years.

Obama versus Cheney, again, on American values and American security.

We‘ve got new emission controls on the way, greens battling greens over cap-and-trade, new rules on credit cards and a green light for loaded guns in the National Parks.

This hour, On Point: Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Chrystia Freeland, U.S. managing editor of The Financial Times. She leads the paper’s U.S. edition and U.S. news on FT.com.

Gebe Martinez, political columnist and contributor to Politico.

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic.

President Bush speaks at the White House prior to signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006. From left are Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the president, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Vice President Dick Cheney. (AP)

Former congressman and White House chief of staff Leon Panetta has been tapped by Barack Obama to be the next head of the CIA.

But a loud chorus is still looking back at what happened in the Bush administration — and charging that torture, eavesdropping, and more, demand an accounting: legal accountability, criminal charges that could go as high as Vice President Cheney — and maybe the president.

Critics call it a smear and a partisan crusade. Supporters call it a vital defense of the constitution.

It is a loaded subject. This hour, On Point: We listen to the case for prosecution — and the case against it.

You can join the conversation. Where are you on this? Was it all just part of the nasty reality of unorthodox war? Or were actual crimes committed in your name? Do you want to see Rumsfeld, Cheney, Feith, Addington, maybe even George Bush, sitting one day in a courtroom? In the dock? Or would that just tear the country apart?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Joining us from New York is Scott Horton, a contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine and a distinguished visiting professor at Hofstra Law School. His article “Justice after Bush: Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration” appeared in the December issue of Harper’s.

Also from New York, we’re joined by Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor and a regular contributor to National Review. His article on the question of Bush administration prosecutions, “The Myth of Bush’s Torture Regime,” appeared in December. As Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he led the prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case.

And from Washington, we’re joined by Charles Homans, an editor at The Washington Monthly. His article on this subject, “Last Secrets of the Bush Administration: How to find out what we still don’t know,” appeared in the November-December issue.

A guard tower is visible behind a razor-wire fence at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, July 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Randall Mikkelsen)

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Guantanamo Bay. The images are indelible. The constitutional and political stakes — epic.

The Supreme Court decided in June to give detainees their day in federal court. The trial of Osama bin Laden’s driver ended in a split verdict and short sentence. The alleged 9/11 mastermind is next.

We read all this in the papers, but our guest today knows Guantanamo up close. A young lawyer, she has worked as an interpreter for Afghan detainees. What she has found are human stories and travesties of justice like she’d never imagined. Instead of terrorists, goat herders, politicians, and reputable physicians with no way out.

This hour, we hear the stories from her new book, “My Guantanamo Diary.”

You can join the conversation. What lessons do you take from the stories coming out of Guantanamo? From the trials and the reports of torture?

-Jane Clayson, guest host

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Guests:

Joining us from San Diego is Mahvish Khan, an interpreter for defense lawyers at Guantanamo Bay and author of the new book “My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me.”

And from Washington, we’re joined by John Walcott, Washington bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers and editor of the five-part investigative series “Guantanamo: Beyond the Law,” which was published in June.

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More links:

McClatchy’s series “Guantanamo: Beyond the Law”
The McClatchy series website offers a large archive of documents from the eight-month investigation and video interviews with detainees.

Mahvish Khan’s Official Website
Has more on the stories, including photos of the detainees and their families.

Read an excerpt from “My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me.”

There is no death row or execution chamber at Guantanamo, but the Army is working on it. On Monday, the Pentagon made public murder and conspiracy charges against six Guantanamo inmates accused in the attacks of 9/11, and announced it will seek the death penalty before a military tribunal.

The military’s own JAG legal community and observers around the world are deeply divided over whether such a trial can be fair. Torture, justice, six lives, and America’s reputation are at issue.

This hour, On Point: the Guantanamo Six head to trial, and the whole world is watching.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Scott Silliman, professor of law at Duke University, where he is executive director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. He served for 25 years in the Air Force, where he managed 715 active duty and reserve lawyers.

John Hutson, dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center and former Judge Advocate General of the US Navy.

John Bickers, professor at the Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University. He served as an Army Judge Advocate for 15 years.

Michael Isikoff, investigative reporter for Newsweek magazine.