Thoughts on the torture memos


I think this smells
Let's make it clear, I am not defending torture. Probably the only thing I find more despicable than torture itself is politicos using torture accusations for political advanage.

Here's what you aren't being told by all the smug talking heads.

The Congressional leadership of both parties was being kept in the loop. Congress's own records show this. So if Nancy Pelosi or anyone else says that they weren't told, they were either lying then or lying now.

Why didn't the Congressional Democrats object then?

There are memos and pictures and reports that you aren't being shown and that haven't been declassified. I don't have access to the contents, but even I sitting in Arizona with nothing more than the internet and a few contacts here and there can dig up that much.

Members of the Bush Administration, especially former Vice President Cheney, claim that the unreleased memos show the effectiveness of the policy. I am not defending these claims, but I do find the selective release of documents troubling. As should you. If the public is to judge the true worth of the policies, then we should know it all. Otherwise it's propaganda.

Going after the people who wrote the memos is a mistake. They weren't the ones who set policy. All that will do is tell presidential advisors (INCLUDING the ones in the current Administration) that they will be prosecuted for having unpopular opinions. That's almost guaranteed to produce nothing but yes men, which is the one thing that no chief executive can afford.

Commissions aren't bound by the rules of evidence, those accused can't necessarily produce evidence in their own defense. Great if you want a star chamber, lousy if you want the rule of law.

My political nose tells me that the torture memos are being used as a distraction. Watch the other hand.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - April 24, 2009 at 10:26 AM  Tag


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