Compromise: Pardon Bush, Execute Cheney And Let's Move On From This Whole Torture Thing

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, had an ironic idea this week-- Obama pardoning Bush and Cheney for torture, making the point that what they did is illegal.

The Obama administration could still take measures to hold accountable the officials who authorized torture. Some of the statutes of limitations have run out, but not all of them have. And the release of the Senate's report provides a blueprint for criminal investigations, even if that's not what the intelligence committee set out to do.

But let's face it: Mr. Obama is not inclined to pursue prosecutions-- no matter how great the outrage, at home or abroad, over the disclosures-- because of the political fallout. He should therefore take ownership of this decision. He should acknowledge that the country's most senior officials authorized conduct that violated fundamental laws, and compromised our standing in the world as well as our security. If the choice is between a tacit pardon and a formal one, a formal one is better. An explicit pardon would lay down a marker, signaling to those considering torture in the future that they could be prosecuted.

Mr. Obama could pardon George J. Tenet for authorizing torture at the C.I.A.'s black sites overseas, Donald H. Rumsfeld for authorizing the use of torture at the Guantanamo Bay prison, David S. Addington, John C. Yoo and Jay S. Bybee for crafting the legal cover for torture, and George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for overseeing it all.

...The spectacle of the president's granting pardons to torturers still makes my stomach turn. But doing so may be the only way to ensure that the American government never tortures again. Pardons would make clear that crimes were committed; that the individuals who authorized and committed torture were indeed criminals; and that future architects and perpetrators of torture should beware. Prosecutions would be preferable, but pardons may be the only viable and lasting way to close the Pandora's box of torture once and for all.

Cheney-- who said it's all a bunch of hooey and that the torturers should be decorated, not criticized-- and other avatars of tyranny and inhumanity-- like, for example, most Republican congressionals-- still revel in what they did and deny there was anything improper... despite this. If you read this blog with any regularity, you probably know I'm not opposed, at least not in theory, to the death penalty for crimes against humanity. If you don't think I am an advocate for the death penalty for Cheney and his team of torturers, you don't read DWT closely enough.

But, as you can see in his floor speech from earlier today, John McCain broke with the overtly fascist wing of his party and praised the torture report, which he called "a thorough and thoughtful study of practices that I believe not only failed their purpose-- to secure actionable intelligence to prevent further attacks on the U.S. and our allies-- but actually damaged our security interests, as well as our reputation as a force for good in the world."

“I believe the American people have a right-- indeed, a responsibility-- to know what was done in their name; how these practices did or did not serve our interests; and how they comported with our most important values.

...“They must know when the values that define our nation are intentionally disregarded by our security policies, even those policies that are conducted in secret. They must be able to make informed judgments about whether those policies and the personnel who supported them were justified in compromising our values; whether they served a greater good; or whether, as I believe, they stained our national honor, did much harm and little practical good.

“What were the policies? What was their purpose? Did they achieve it? Did they make us safer? Less safe? Or did they make no difference? What did they gain us? What did they cost us? The American people need the answers to these questions. Yes, some things must be kept from public disclosure to protect clandestine operations, sources and methods, but not the answers to these questions.

“By providing them, the Committee has empowered the American people to come to their own decisions about whether we should have employed such practices in the past and whether we should consider permitting them in the future. This report strengthens self-government and, ultimately, I believe, America’s security and stature in the world. I thank the Committee for that valuable public service.

“I have long believed some of these practices amounted to torture, as a reasonable person would define it, especially, but not only the practice of waterboarding, which is a mock execution and an exquisite form of torture. Its use was shameful and unnecessary; and, contrary to assertions made by some of its defenders and as the Committee’s report makes clear, it produced little useful intelligence to help us track down the perpetrators of 9/11 or prevent new attacks and atrocities.

“I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence. I know that victims of torture will offer intentionally misleading information if they think their captors will believe it. I know they will say whatever they think their torturers want them to say if they believe it will stop their suffering. Most of all, I know the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies, our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights, which are protected by international conventions the U.S. not only joined, but for the most part authored.

...“There was considerable misinformation disseminated then about what was and wasn’t achieved using these methods in an effort to discourage support for the legislation. There was a good amount of misinformation used in 2011 to credit the use of these methods with the death of Osama bin Laden. And there is, I fear, misinformation being used today to prevent the release of this report, disputing its findings and warning about the security consequences of their public disclosure.

“What might come as a surprise, not just to our enemies, but to many Americans, is how little these practices did to aid our efforts to bring 9/11 culprits to justice and to find and prevent terrorist attacks today and tomorrow. That could be a real surprise, since it contradicts the many assurances provided by intelligence officials on the record and in private that enhanced interrogation techniques were indispensable in the war against terrorism. And I suspect the objection of those same officials to the release of this report is really focused on that disclosure-- torture’s ineffectiveness-- because we gave up much in the expectation that torture would make us safer. Too much.

“Obviously, we need intelligence to defeat our enemies, but we need reliable intelligence. Torture produces more misleading information than actionable intelligence. And what the advocates of harsh and cruel interrogation methods have never established is that we couldn’t have gathered as good or more reliable intelligence from using humane methods.

“The most important lead we got in the search for bin Laden came from using conventional interrogation methods. I think it is an insult to the many intelligence officers who have acquired good intelligence without hurting or degrading prisoners to assert we can’t win this war without such methods. Yes we can and we will.

“But in the end, torture’s failure to serve its intended purpose isn’t the main reason to oppose its use. I have often said, and will always maintain, that this question isn’t about our enemies; it’s about us. It’s about who we were, who we are and who we aspire to be. It’s about how we represent ourselves to the world.

Remember, the only person prosecuted in association with the CIA torture program is former CIA official John Kiriakou, who refused to take part in the Cheney-ordered torture program and who leaked information about it to reporters. He's currently serving a prison sentence. Cheney is considered a respectable member of society in certain circles. Right after the release of the report Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY, the respected former Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, expressed the outrage over the practices described in it by so many normal Americans (if not most Republicans).

“I am deeply disturbed, even disgusted, by the graphic scenes of torture described in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA ‘enhanced interrogation’ techniques. They provide further confirmation of what we have already known for years, that America committed horrific abuses during the 'War on Terror.' Press accounts have informed us about CIA black sites, 'renditions' of terrorism suspects to foreign countries, and multiple instances of mistreatment at Guantanamo Bay Prison.”

“As I said first many years ago, torture is inconsistent with democratic principles of freedom and is a violation of the right to be free from cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment at the hands of the government. Waterboarding-- one of the methods described in the report-- has long been considered torture and committing or ordering torture is a severe crime under both international and U.S. laws. Moreover, torture has never proven to be more effective than other methods of interrogation and did not produce any blockbuster intelligence while in use.

“As these acts are violations of both American law and morality, we must hold those accountable and prevent such abuses from happening in the future. In 2009, I called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations of torture and have today joined with my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee to advocate for a new round of hearings on the Senate CIA Torture report.

“I am also announcing today plans to reintroduce the American Anti-Torture Act of 2014, which would extend the Army Field Manual standards to all interrogations, ensuring that U.S. law has a single, uniform, baseline of treatment of prisoners. Additionally, the bill would clarify that interrogation techniques that are prohibited for use by the military’s own field manual on interrogations are similarly prohibited if used by the CIA or other government agencies. We must prohibit torture by law once and for all.”

Newly-elected Congressman Ted Lieu is a decorated Air Force Lt. Colonel. He takes protecting the American people and the Constitution very, very seriously. He was recently elected freshman class president by the just elected House Democrats and today I asked him how he thinks of the release of the torture report.

"The two words 'National Security' have been used to justify brutal governmental overreach in our nation's history, from the Red Scare of McCarthyism to internment of over a hundred thousand American citizens in World War II to torture by the CIA. Each time, our country's national security was harmed-- not helped-- when overzealous federal officials thought they were above the law. While we need to be vigilant in our National Security, we cannot allow fear to override basic principles of freedom and human rights.

"Few nations have the capacity, systems, and democratic values in place to investigate and issue a report as important and profound as the US Senate Intelligence Committee's report on CIA interrogation methods. As America has done in the past when confronted with outrageous governmental actions, we investigated, learn from our mistakes, and became a better nation. Our country wisely makes it a federal crime for US service members-- including US military intelligenc personnel-- to maltreat prisoners. It is time we bring the CIA into the 21st century and make all federal officials follow the same interrogation standards that we apply to our US military."

And then there's this, the unpunished criminals still spouting their insanity. It's all over Fox, of course-- and tomorrow morning Morning Joe will feature Hayden himself (and John Yoo!) on MSNBC, making the network complicit in his coverup, lies and grotesque criminality.