TORTURE INVESTIGATION
Although I have said that prosecution of those responsible for instituting a policy of torture would be good, I'm really not that sure. What I do favor is a full investigation by congressional committee or commission.
We need this for two main reasons. Exposing the truth and renouncing the actions helps to restore our moral standing in the world. Acknowledging mistakes is worthwhile and is good preventative medicine for the future. Secondly, the truth will perhaps reduce the spread of the constant right wing claims that are contrary to the truth.
Chances are that the investigation will expose improper demands by Cheney and Bush that the Department of Justice approve the methods they wished to use. These two, and probably others, may well be guilty of war crimes and crimes unde U.S. laws. And DOJ investigation may well lead to the same conclusion and implicate those lawyers who succumbed to political pressure.
However, I do not favor prosecution and would hope that prosecutorial discretion and congressional forbearance will prevail. The reasons may be a bit flimsy, such as the tnen 9-11 fervor or the current economic travails, but the alternative of a years of trials with a former president and vice president in the dock is unthinkable.
Let the congressional investigation conclude with a Resolution of Condemnation and then we all move on.
TORTURE THOUGHTS
Looks as though there will be a push to prosecute for the crime of torture, at least of those who authorized the torture techniques or wrote spurious legal opinions on the subject. Good.
In the meantime, Fox News people and morning host Joe Scarborough continue to rant that the release of the torture memos compromises our intelligence and interrogation efforts. This, despite the facts torture usually doesn't work (Cheney continuing to claim otherwise), the torture details are public knowledge, and we're not going to use them in the future anyway.
I think that the real torture is listening to Joe Scarborough go on and on raving about the supposed dangers in the release of these memos.
Although I have said that prosecution of those responsible for instituting a policy of torture would be good, I'm really not that sure. What I do favor is a full investigation by congressional committee or commission.
We need this for two main reasons. Exposing the truth and renouncing the actions helps to restore our moral standing in the world. Acknowledging mistakes is worthwhile and is good preventative medicine for the future. Secondly, the truth will perhaps reduce the spread of the constant right wing claims that are contrary to the truth.
Chances are that the investigation will expose improper demands by Cheney and Bush that the Department of Justice approve the methods they wished to use. These two, and probably others, may well be guilty of war crimes and crimes unde U.S. laws. And DOJ investigation may well lead to the same conclusion and implicate those lawyers who succumbed to political pressure.
However, I do not favor prosecution and would hope that prosecutorial discretion and congressional forbearance will prevail. The reasons may be a bit flimsy, such as the tnen 9-11 fervor or the current economic travails, but the alternative of a years of trials with a former president and vice president in the dock is unthinkable.
Let the congressional investigation conclude with a Resolution of Condemnation and then we all move on.
TORTURE THOUGHTS
Looks as though there will be a push to prosecute for the crime of torture, at least of those who authorized the torture techniques or wrote spurious legal opinions on the subject. Good.
In the meantime, Fox News people and morning host Joe Scarborough continue to rant that the release of the torture memos compromises our intelligence and interrogation efforts. This, despite the facts torture usually doesn't work (Cheney continuing to claim otherwise), the torture details are public knowledge, and we're not going to use them in the future anyway.
I think that the real torture is listening to Joe Scarborough go on and on raving about the supposed dangers in the release of these memos.
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