We here at USDemocrazy are confused. (Okay… that’s not news.) The news is we’re a little more confused than usual… we have been looking at the whole “torture memos” thing pretty closely and…
Just when we think we gotten a handle on it, BINGO! Some new confounding twist seems to pop up.
Exhibit A: Do we torch the torturers?
The Obama administration is pondering this very dilemma. What should be done with the American Security staff who did the nasty deeds described in those torture memos (read some of them here)? After all, they were just following orders, right? (Wait… haven’t we heard that line before?)
So… Are the Obama people going to prosecute these guys, or is it better left as water(boarding) under the bridge?
So far there is no clear message from the White House. Politico writes that:
President Barack Obama’s attempt to project legal and moral clarity on coercive CIA interrogation methods has instead done the opposite — creating confusion and political vulnerability over an issue that has inflamed both the left and right.
The new administration seems to find itself in the middle of a political nightmare. Dan Blaz at the Washington Post writes:
Add to that the mixed signals emanating from the White House over the past few days over who should and who shouldn’t face possible prosecution and Obama finds himself in the middle of a storm that may not pass quickly.
So the next question becomes: “if we’re going to prosecute someone, who is it gonna be?” Well that might be a bit tricky too, as John Sifton points out:
The report conclusively confirms that senior members of the Bush administration were personally briefed and approved the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques in 2002 and again in 2003, which as previously reported included waterboarding, prolonged sleep deprivation, throwing detainees into walls, and placing them in small boxes, with insects, among other abuses.
So, do we prosecute the entire Bush White House? Even Barney the dog?
Perhaps the only sure thing we know right now is that there is no sure thing!
To prosecute, or not to prosecute, that is the question…
