Boston Globe editorial:
Besides, final responsibility for torture lies with those who authorized it; they deserve no chance to push the blame toward interrogators on the ground. For that reason, Congress should be investigating the Bush administrations use of techniques that fit the definition of torture.
Reflecting an understandable presidential perspective, Obama has been emphatic about wanting to look forward, not backward. This is a time for reflection, not retribution, he said Thursday in his statement on the release of the torture memos.
Still, neither Obama nor Attorney General Eric Holder has ruled out prosecution of those Bush administration officials who authorized these methods. This is a crucial distinction. Obama is not limiting accountability to a release of declassified documents. And he is not treating past incidents of torture purely as a pragmatic problem requiring him to balance CIA morale against Americas moral standing in the world.
President Barack Obama took the decision to allow the Justice Department to release the memos despite pleas from four previous CIA directors and the present holder of the post that they should not be in the public domain. The President is believed to have wanted to be seen to be acting voluntarily rather than being forced to publish them under a Freedom of Information legislation request lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union.
But his further decision to rule out any prosecution of the CIA operatives involved in applying the techniques has brought a flood of criticism from liberal commentators who fear the President, despite his own objections to the methods, has now become complicit in their application.
David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Centre, and the author of Justice At War: The Men and Ideas That Shaped Americas War on Terror, said: The four legal memos released by the Obama administration on Thursday confirm in excruciating detail that the Bush administration employed twisted and macabre legal reasoning to authorise the unspeakable the torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of human beings.
Obamas refusal to hold accountable those responsible for the wrongs so evident from the memos is unacceptable. A child would recognise these tactics as cruel and inhumane.cted calls for a fuller Truth Commission inquiry into what went on. Nothing will be gained, he said, by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. To those who consider methods such as waterboarding to be outright criminal, this is disappointing to say the least.
Waterboarding is a form of torture[1][2] that consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.[3] It is considered a form of torture by legal experts,[4][5] politicians, war veterans,[6][7] intelligence officials,[8] military judges,[9] and human rights organizations.[10][11] As early as the Spanish Inquisition it was used for interrogation purposes, to punish and intimidate, and to force confessions.[12]
In the war crimes tribunals that followed Japan's defeat in World War II, the issue of waterboarding was sometimes raised. In 1947, the U.S. charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for waterboarding a U.S. civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.Levin: Memos don't show what Cheney says they doStory Highlights
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, speaks to the Foreign Policy Association
Levin says ex-VP Cheney's claims that harsh interrogations worked are wrong
Levin cites CIA documents that Cheney has said prove his point
updated 4:11 p.m. EDT, Fri May 29, 2009
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims -- that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked -- are wrong.
Former VP Dick Cheney has been a vocal defender of Bush-era interrogation techniques.
Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner in New York on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques -- now deemed torture by the Obama administration -- "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney's claims."
The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques."
"I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added.
Boston Globe editorial: Besides, final responsibility for torture lies with those who authorized it; they deserve no chance to push the blame toward interrogators on the ground. For that reason, Congress should be investigating the Bush administrations use of techniques that fit the definition of torture. Reflecting an understandable presidential perspective, Obama has been emphatic about wanting to look forward, not backward. This is a time for reflection, not retribution, he said Thursday in his statement on the release of the torture memos. Still, neither Obama nor Attorney General Eric Holder has ruled out prosecution of those Bush administration officials who authorized these methods. This is a crucial distinction. Obama is not limiting accountability to a release of declassified documents. And he is not treating past incidents of torture purely as a pragmatic problem requiring him to balance CIA morale against Americas moral standing in the world. President Barack Obama took the decision to allow the Justice Department to release the memos despite pleas from four previous CIA directors and the present holder of the post that they should not be in the public domain. The President is believed to have wanted to be seen to be acting voluntarily rather than being forced to publish them under a Freedom of Information legislation request lodged by the American Civil Liberties Union. But his further decision to rule out any prosecution of the CIA operatives involved in applying the techniques has brought a flood of criticism from liberal commentators who fear the President, despite his own objections to the methods, has now become complicit in their application. David Cole, a professor at Georgetown University Law Centre, and the author of Justice At War: The Men and Ideas That Shaped Americas War on Terror, said: The four legal memos released by the Obama administration on Thursday confirm in excruciating detail that the Bush administration employed twisted and macabre legal reasoning to authorise the unspeakable the torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of human beings. Obamas refusal to hold accountable those responsible for the wrongs so evident from the memos is unacceptable. A child would recognise these tactics as cruel and inhumane.cted calls for a fuller Truth Commission inquiry into what went on. Nothing will be gained, he said, by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past. To those who consider methods such as waterboarding to be outright criminal, this is disappointing to say the least. Waterboarding is a form of torture[1][2] that consists of immobilizing the victim on his or her back with the head inclined downwards, and then pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. By forced suffocation and inhalation of water the subject experiences drowning and is caused to believe they are about to die.[3] It is considered a form of torture by legal experts,[4][5] politicians, war veterans,[6][7] intelligence officials,[8] military judges,[9] and human rights organizations.[10][11] As early as the Spanish Inquisition it was used for interrogation purposes, to punish and intimidate, and to force confessions.[12] In the war crimes tribunals that followed Japan's defeat in World War II, the issue of waterboarding was sometimes raised. In 1947, the U.S. charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for waterboarding a U.S. civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.Levin: Memos don't show what Cheney says they doStory Highlights Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, speaks to the Foreign Policy Association Levin says ex-VP Cheney's claims that harsh interrogations worked are wrong Levin cites CIA documents that Cheney has said prove his point updated 4:11 p.m. EDT, Fri May 29, 2009 Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says former Vice President Dick Cheney's claims -- that classified CIA memos show enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding worked -- are wrong. Former VP Dick Cheney has been a vocal defender of Bush-era interrogation techniques. Levin, speaking at the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner in New York on Wednesday, said an investigation by his committee into detainee abuse charges over the use of the techniques -- now deemed torture by the Obama administration -- "gives the lie to Mr. Cheney's claims." The Michigan Democrat told the crowd that the two CIA documents that Cheney wants released "say nothing about numbers of lives saved, nor do the documents connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of abusive techniques." "I hope that the documents are declassified, so that people can judge for themselves what is fact, and what is fiction," he added.