This ought to be a bit dicey:
Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the “enhanced” interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration for use against “high value” Qaeda detainees. The memos, written by Justice Department lawyers in May 2005, provide the legal rationale for waterboarding, head slapping and other rough tactics used by the CIA. One senior Obama official, who like others interviewed for this story requested anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, said the memos were “ugly” and could embarrass the CIA. Other officials predicted they would fuel demands for a “truth commission” on torture.
Because of an executive order signed by President Obama on Jan. 22 banning such aggressive tactics, deputies to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. concluded there was no longer any reason to keep the interrogation memos classified. But current and former intel officials pushed back, arguing that any public release might still compromise “sources and methods.” According to the administration official, ex-CIA director Michael Hayden was “furious” about the prospect of disclosure and tried to intervene directly with Obama officials. But the White House has sided with Holder.
I’m liking the courage.
It’s a start.
But it’s a gamble. If this doesn’t cement Obama as an enemy of the intel community, nothing will.
I’m guessing they’re not going to take this well.
yeah, some courage.
here’s another dicey, rich piece – WTF?
in need of an exit strategy. Quick. Not winnable.
“liking the courage” until Obama stops seeing the prosecution of crimes as backward-looking and counterproductive.
yeah, that pretty much sums it up. but for who?
bybee and yoo’s stock just plummeted. and abu g’s got to be worried as well.
maybe a bit of encouragement for a quid pro quo for coming to yoo’s defense?… turning up the heat on the weak links in the bushco™
juntacabal.very interesting, and not without risk.
I have had the feeling for quite some time that while the Obama administration claims it wants to ‘move on’ and ‘look to the future’ when it comes to past Bush crimes the real goal is to create conditions where crimes HAVE to be exposed/prosecuted. Obama wants his hands to be as clean as possible.
If those memos do get exposed I think there will be no doubt that is Obama’s plan.
nalbar
completely agree
you’re missing the point of cheney’s shock
doctrine, i.e. they knew very well that if one
hand made sure the economy was wrecked by bankers,
mortgage brokers, wall st. gamblers, etc., running amok,
UNregulated– it would lead to financial disaster
more or less in time to distract people from what the other hand was doing, i.e. torture-gate and the rest– because they are simply too busy trying to find a job/keep their homes out of foreclosure.
Obama and team can release all of the important-sounding documents they want to at this time– I seriously doubt we’ll see anything significant come of it.
No doubt that Dick Cheney is preparing his statement of dire warning even as we speak.
ok, ‘enhanced’, ‘rough’, ‘aggressive’. hmmmn. how about ‘sadistic’, ‘vicious’, ‘depraved’, ‘inhuman’,
‘vile’ and ‘criminal’?
Michael Hayden is pissed? He can K M R A.
“the memos were “ugly” and could embarrass the CIA.“
Oh, boo f***ing hoo! If the CIA is responsible for those memos, then let the embarrassment beging!
So is Dick Cheney the new Osama bin Laden? One who caused major damage to the United States and who now surfaces on occasion to issue dire warnings of its imminent demise unless it changes its ways?
I’d like the courage a lot more if it came from more than just Obama’s administration. When is Congress going to suck it up and do right by us and investigate the CIA’s abuses?
There was a story people should read in the WaPo yesterday (here) detailing other CIA abuses not related to torture. The Agency has been left unaccountable for far too long. It’s time to do some housecleaning.
Here’s a sample:
And of course, the Post’s answer to its own question? Appoint a presidential commission. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
One thought… it seems to me that one of the primary reasons that the Bush Administration refused to release the majority of the detainees of Guantanamo whom they knew (or were pretty certain) were innocent of anything actually resembling acts or conspiracies of terrorism was that these men had been tortured — and they couldn’t afford to let them go and tell the rest of the world what they had suffered, in violation of international law and the Geneva Conventions. There was some cock-and-bull story about revealing the interrogation techniques would compromise national security by preparing future terrorist detainees against those techniques… but really, I think they just wanted to suppress the truth about what they’d been doing to people down there.
But if those memos — and other evidence — that pretty much detail the torture in all its horrible detail, all the evidence of war crimes and violations of the Geneva Conventions, etc. are released… then there’s no longer anything those detainees could say about their experience that hasn’t been revealed. Releasing the information kind of knocks the legs out from under that cock-and-bull excuse — and perhaps it also brings many of those detainees closer to being released?
At least, one can hope.
Personally, I’m hoping the more information about Bush Administration war crimes gets released, the closer we get to a sufficient groundswell of public horror and shame and pressure on Congress and the Justice Dept. to prosecute. So long as about half the country believes prosecution is partisan witch-hunting, it won’t happen. But if that public perception changes…. then political perception of what is possible changes too. So the more evidence and facts that get released or uncovered, the better.