Debating Obama's Release of the Bush Torture Memos

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Debating the Torture Memos

Yesterday, President Obama released Bush-era interrogation memos with detailed descriptions of CIA interrogation techniques. Obama also announced that he would not prosecute operatives who carried out the controversial interrogation methods. Suffice to say, the move is drawing more than a little controversy. The blogosphere takes sides:

Outrage: Bloggers—mostly conservative—are red hot. Conservative Jeff Emanuel thinks the interrogation techniques simply don't constitute torture. The meaning of "torture," he writes, has now been perverted "by those who have spent the last eight years on constant lookout for some greviance [sic] to hold against a president whose mere existence they resented." Bill Kristol thinks the left has forgotten we're still fighting a war. Conservative David Rivkin outlines the cost and benefit of the memos' release: one the one hand, the memos "are well-written, and feature careful and nuanced legal analysis" and "definitively establish that the Bush Administration did not engage in torture." One the other hand, "by describing in great detail the most assertive set of interrogation techniques that the United States has ever used —  having determined them after a great deal of reflection and analysis to be legal — we have rendered them essentially unusable in the future." Conservative Dan McLaughlin is very, very worried. And liberal Bruce Fein is outraged that Obama won't be prosecuting the Bushies behind the interrogations: "Obama has set a precedent whitewashing White House lawlessness in the name of national security."

Applause: Dan Amira outlines reactions to the techniques, as does Andrew Sullivan here. In a separate post, Sullivan reacts to the documents with horror, praising Obama for the wise decision to increase transparency: "According to these documents, almost nothing that was done at Abu Ghraib was outside the limits agreed to by Bush -- and much of what was done at Abu Ghraib was mild in comparison." Conservative Rick Moran outlines the evolution of his thoughts on interrogation: "President Obama, required by law, released these memos and then appropriately gave a pass to the men and women who operated under their legal guidelines. Overall, he is showing a sensitivity to the issues that most of us on the right are not giving him much credit for." Conservative Ed Morrissey thinks the memos are filled with dubious legal acrobatics. Liberal Allison Kilkenny is surprised that anything could make the Bush administration look even more nefarious. Joshua Keating thinks that the Bush administration "completely lost touch with reality." And Stephen Stromberg argues that Obama is right to move past "the Bush administration's already discredited conduct. If there is a time for a Truth Commission, this is not it."

... Meanwhile ...

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