Torture Panel Must Get Facts So, Cheney Aside, the Nation Can Move On
As evidence continues to mount on the use of torture by American forces, we should be able to concede that it is wrong, un-American, and even criminal. Only the limited backers of the Dick Cheney-David Addington-John Yoo school of anything goes and to hell with the law would disagree.
What to do for the nation to clean up this mess and move on? The best way is to appoint a small bipartisan commission to collect all the facts and give this ugly episode full transparency. The wrong way to go would be congressional hearings. There is no way to avoid them going fiercely partisan and ending with show trials that would be a circus.
The commission would resemble the 9-11 panel headed by Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton. They produced a sound report, but the former administration only nodded in their direction and dismissed nearly all their recommendations.
A Republican like Howard Baker and Democrat like John Glenn would make credible and respected leaders of such a commission.
Further, once the commission reports its findings, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder should call off any indictments or ultimate trials for wrongdoing. Some on the left would scream, but they should be silenced.
A notable exception to the lack of prosecution is the person of Jay S. Bybee, now a federal appeals court judge for the Ninth Circuit. It was Bybee, as an assistant attorney general, who wrote the critical memo upholding waterboarding and other brutal forms of interrogation.
The Washington Post reported on April 25 that Bybee's friends say he regrets the outcome of his green light.
It is far too late for that "I'm sorry."
Bybee should be impeached by the House, tried in the Senate, and removed from his lifetime post if convicted. The country cannot have a federal jurist who sanctions criminal behavior.
Cheney, the former vice president, continues to be the outspoken bad actor of the last eight years. He still insists waterboarding is just fine and has produced tangible results. Not many in the intelligence community agree with him and, in fact, say torture is counterproductive.
In recent interviews, Cheney says it is likely the country will be hit again by terrorists. Sure, it could happen again and he would then crow that he gave the warning signal. If such action does not occur, no one will remember his words.
Cheney's conduct is beyond reprehensible. As John McCain's daughter put it. He should just "go away." No one should forget that Obama won the election in large part due to the Bush-Cheney record at home and abroad.
But the country does need to move on. Let a commission do a painstaking and thorough job, release the findings and everyone lower their voices, but after Judge Bybee is no longer called a judge.
Reader Comments
Is waterboarding really illegal?
The UN Convention on Torture, plus the US anti-torture law, both use the phrase, "intention to inflict severe pain" to define torture. Does waterboarding really qualify as "severe" rather than "moderate"? I mean, for severe surely we have impalement, drawing and quartering, the rack, crucifixion, etc. Those are the real tortures, the practices that everyone agrees are torture. Waterboarding. . . .? Maybe. The rest of the so-called torures such as putting insects in the prisoner's cell? They are laughable compared to real torture and in no way can legally be said to qualify as "severe pain".
I really don't think we should be locking anyone up because they thought that waterboarding was "moderate" pain, not "severe" pain. People should read the actual wording of the laws before being so quick to judge. Let's use the democratic process to clairfy what exactly we mean by tortue and get on with life.
The UN convention also condemns "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment", but does NOT call it torture. Furthter, the US is not a signatory to that part of the convention.
It's also very hard for me to see how people convince themselves that Bybee and the rest of the "torturers" did this for any motivation except to react against 9/11 and try to protect the nation in a difficult time. Disagree with their methods if you will but don't try to throw them in jail. Read the so-called "torture memos"--these guys were trying in good faith to find the limit of what was legal, not go beyond it.
COWARDS
IF there were men of honor & courage in the last Bush admin., they obviously did not prevail. Instead, the cowards whose fears,greed & lust for power overtook any real regard for the good of the American people ruled the roost. They waterboarded the same 2-3 people over 150 times-many times in a single day! If waterboarding worked so well, wouldn't once be enough? But Bush/Cheney etal didn't want truth, they wanted to sadistically torture over & over to falsely establish a link between Sadam Hussein & Al Qaeda & the existence of WMDs - the reasons they gave to justify to America their attacks on Iraq-the reasons which turned out to be false. Weak-kneed cowards that they are, they maliciously & unmercifully tortured others trying to cover their own butts...& failed at that, too. It's hard to think of anything more low, cowardly & dispicable.
These military service AVOIDERS established false premises to put the US military in Iraq for their own greedy purposes which had nothing to do with protecting the US. Over 4,000 military have lost their lives for Bush/Cheney's personal agenda, 100s of thousands of Iraqis,too. And, we know that we have them & their war to thank for our crushing debt, no matter how desperately the GOP tries to push it off on Obama. Yet, the Mideast is a bigger mess than ever; Bin Laden has never been found; Al Qeada is thriving; $billions are unaccounted for; wounded military were ignored; and chaos will still prevail if we withdraw. What has been gained for all the pain they've inflicted on so many? Well, Halliburton has made out handsomely!
It all adds up to gross abuse of power by the most powerful in our country-not once, but over & over & over. It's a blatant pattern of disdain for laws, people & our govt. that did not stop at prisoner abuse. Bush/Cheney etal acted like sociopaths & maybe they are. We've yet to learn all they did. It all must come out into the light of day where Americans & the world can see it all and those who ordered these abuses can be held accountable...not the young low level people the BIG COWARDS tried to push the blame on. It has to come out so the world can see that we hold our leaders accountable, that what was done was not the will of the American people,that we are outraged & care enough about what we stand for not to just sweep it under the rug. It is about the importance of laws & justice to our republic and their application to the most powerful. Justice must be done to restore a moral highground & become again a beacon of hope for the world.
Anything but the whole truth & full accountability would be a travesty & disaster for the future of the US & freedom everywhere. It'd make our laws meaningless & be a green light for abuse by the powerful,a tragic precedentfor administrations to come. Balance of power must be restored, truth revealed, abuse of power & sociopathic behavior repudiated & all responsible held accountable. NO PARDONS! NO COVER UP!
TIGHT CORNERS MAKE FOR TOUGH CHOICES
The scene, "The Old West" - Smelly Sam has a half dozen kids tied up in a mine shaft and the air is running out. He rides into town and tells the Mayor that unless he gets all the money the town has, and he and his henchmen get to rape all the girls and women - the kids will suffocate in an hour. Cut to the Sheriff... He strides out into the middle of the dusty street, and calls for Smelly and his cutthroats to, “reach for the sky”- Smelly's men make the wrong "reach"...Both barrels of the Sheriff's 12 gauge cut loose and 4 saddles get emptied in a cloud of blue smoke. Sheriff drops the shotgun and fills his hand with a .45 Colt "Peacemaker". Smelly's hand hovers over his six-gun - The view of the the black hole at the end of the lawman's .45 convinces him - "bad idea".
Sheriff hauls Smelly out of the saddle and dunks his head in a horse trough - yanks it out and asks, "Where are the kids?" Smelly spits in the Sheriff's face and down the bad guy goes again - For a little longer. Sheriff pulls him out and as Smelly opens his mouth to gasp for air he finds the barrel of the Sheriff's .45 in his mouth and hears the hammer cock - Smelly looks into the Sheriff's hard eyes and sees the lawman is "willing"....
Kids rescued - tear filled families reunited and Smelly is on his way to break rocks at Yuma.
Today, we'd arrest the Sheriff, bury the kids, demand more gun control laws, call the A.C.L.U. for the bad guys and make sure they had TV's, magazines and culturally correct meals.
I think the pendulum has swung a mite too far toward the hand wringing left. Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of second guessing every aspect of a situation or the comfort of a p.c. solution.
We need men who have the common sense, honor and courage to make the right choice - We need men who are "willing"... These days such men are rare, but without them we are lost.
advertisement
