Lexington Herald Leader Editorial:Investigate Torture Under Bush".
Investigate torture under Bush
Sometimes we have to dig up the past to get the future right. This country's descent into the practice of torture is one of those times.
Such an investigation would be painful and distracting. But avoiding the truth would be even worse, costing the United States any claim to moral leadership.
The demands for an accounting will only grow as more Bush-era secrets become public. Particularly noteworthy was the report last week by McClatchy Newspapers that Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld pressured interrogators to use extreme methods to prove a non-existent link between al Qaida and Saddam Hussein.
Like the Chinese Communists, from whom we borrowed "enhanced interrogation" techniques, we were torturing to extract false confessions. It wasn't about defending America; it was about defending the Iraq War's false premise.
American voters renounced that false premise in the last election. Still, it's easy to understand why President Barack Obama might rather close the book on past abuses and keep Congress and the public focused on the enormous problems ahead.
The economy is still in shambles, al-Qaida allies appear to be on the verge of taking control of Pakistan and Shia-Sunni tensions are resurgent in Iraq. Obama's plate is overflowing with Bush leftovers.
Just figuring out what form an investigation should take — special prosecutor, bipartisan truth commission, relying on a Democrat- controlled Congress to continue to investigate?— is enough to jam Washington's gears.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is already signaling that Republicans will go all out to block exposure of wrongdoing by the Bush administration.
Despite all that, the long-term risks of not coming to terms with the truth would be worse.
For one thing, unless we figure out how our leaders, both military and civilian, could have made such extreme misjudgments, we risk repeating them.
Why, for example, did the military after 9/11 turn for advice to a unit that trains Americans to withstand techniques, universally regarded as illegal, that have been used to torture false confessions from American POWs? Wouldn't it have been smarter to seek advice from experts in how to get the truth out of prisoners?
The interrogation techniques, which Obama has now banned, include near drowning, confinement in a small box, sleep deprivation, hooding, the use of animals and stress postures — all legitimized by Justice Department lawyers, one of whom was rewarded with a federal judgeship.
It should be noted that some officials in the military and Justice Department risked their careers by warning against crossing the line into torture. And as Cheney, once the lord of secrecy, now wants all to know, some "high value" detainees spilled the beans. We don't know if they would have talked without being tortured.
We do know that thousands of American lives were lost after the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo fired up the Iraqi insurgency and recruited militant Islamists to fight in Iraq; our ability to gain allies and intelligence was hurt.
The Bush-Cheney team proved that the United States can't bully the world into following us. But we can still lead by example. If we want a world governed by the rule of law, we must live by the law. If we want others to respect human rights, so must we. What example would we set by stuffing the truth down a dank hole in Langley?
Sometimes we have to dig up the past to get the future right. This country's descent into the practice of torture is one of those times.
Such an investigation would be painful and distracting. But avoiding the truth would be even worse, costing the United States any claim to moral leadership.
The demands for an accounting will only grow as more Bush-era secrets become public. Particularly noteworthy was the report last week by McClatchy Newspapers that Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld pressured interrogators to use extreme methods to prove a non-existent link between al Qaida and Saddam Hussein.
Like the Chinese Communists, from whom we borrowed "enhanced interrogation" techniques, we were torturing to extract false confessions. It wasn't about defending America; it was about defending the Iraq War's false premise.
American voters renounced that false premise in the last election. Still, it's easy to understand why President Barack Obama might rather close the book on past abuses and keep Congress and the public focused on the enormous problems ahead.
The economy is still in shambles, al-Qaida allies appear to be on the verge of taking control of Pakistan and Shia-Sunni tensions are resurgent in Iraq. Obama's plate is overflowing with Bush leftovers.
Just figuring out what form an investigation should take — special prosecutor, bipartisan truth commission, relying on a Democrat- controlled Congress to continue to investigate?— is enough to jam Washington's gears.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is already signaling that Republicans will go all out to block exposure of wrongdoing by the Bush administration.
Despite all that, the long-term risks of not coming to terms with the truth would be worse.
For one thing, unless we figure out how our leaders, both military and civilian, could have made such extreme misjudgments, we risk repeating them.
Why, for example, did the military after 9/11 turn for advice to a unit that trains Americans to withstand techniques, universally regarded as illegal, that have been used to torture false confessions from American POWs? Wouldn't it have been smarter to seek advice from experts in how to get the truth out of prisoners?
The interrogation techniques, which Obama has now banned, include near drowning, confinement in a small box, sleep deprivation, hooding, the use of animals and stress postures — all legitimized by Justice Department lawyers, one of whom was rewarded with a federal judgeship.
It should be noted that some officials in the military and Justice Department risked their careers by warning against crossing the line into torture. And as Cheney, once the lord of secrecy, now wants all to know, some "high value" detainees spilled the beans. We don't know if they would have talked without being tortured.
We do know that thousands of American lives were lost after the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo fired up the Iraqi insurgency and recruited militant Islamists to fight in Iraq; our ability to gain allies and intelligence was hurt.
The Bush-Cheney team proved that the United States can't bully the world into following us. But we can still lead by example. If we want a world governed by the rule of law, we must live by the law. If we want others to respect human rights, so must we. What example would we set by stuffing the truth down a dank hole in Langley?
Labels: News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 3:24 PM
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