When President Obama first took office, he banned all the torture techniques described in these memos. But he also ordered a six-month-long investigation into whether all federal agencies should be permanently limited to the interrogation techniques authorized by the Army Field Manual. Appearing on MSNBC yesterday, former CIA director Michael Hayden unwittingly offered one of the best reasons for sunlight. Per Hayden:
To the degree that we make these techniques public—we tell our enemies the outer limits of American interrogation techniques—it mutes the study that the president directed, because it will effectively take these techniques off the table, because our enemies will know all of our approaches to him.
If, indeed, the president’s actions have “taken these techniques” off the table for good, that will be the best possible outcome for America.
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The full text of the president’s statement on the torture memos can be found here.
Obama's stance so far--his decision not to prosecute the people who executed torture on behalf of the US government--is a perfect stimulus for organized, powerful civil protest. We the people should demand prosecutions at least for the authorizers of torture. It's easy to write to Obama via his website: whitehouse.gov. If he's the man he claims to be, he will have to respond to a largely collective demand on this.
#1 Posted by Rick Whitaker, CJR on Sat 18 Apr 2009 at 03:30 PM