He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)
When the Obama Administration innitially announced that the Justice Department would not prosecute CIA operatives who performed acts of torture I was sympathetic to the decision. I'm not sure that I'm not still sympathetic to that decision. However, it has recently come out that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in the month of March 2003 (he was captured on March 1, 2003), while Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in August 2002 (he was captured on March 28, 2002).The Office Of Legal Counsel was very precise in it's prescribed application of torture techniques. A generous reading would suggest that while harsh interrogation was used, every attempt was made to mitigate physical harm. The memos are very specific about how to use waterboarding for instance:
Two "sessions" per day of up to two hours. During a session, water may be applied up to six times for ten seconds or longer (but never more than 40 seconds). In a 24-hour period, a detainee may be subjected to up to twelve minutes of water application
The application of all the techniques were outlined in this manner. I don't know how these limits were determined. I doubt scientific studies were used to determine when a specific technique went from very uncomfortable to torture. Doctors were on hand just in case something went wrong, which is unusual in itself.
I'm going to work from the assumption that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc... were not looking for ways to torture people just for the fun of it. I'm going to assume that they believed the application of the techniques was necessary. They signed off on the guidelines presented by the Office Of Legal Counsel. However, they most likely did not sign off on waterboarding anyone 183 times in a single month. Even if the technique produced useful information, how could it continue to produce so much information that a daily regime of five or more waterboardings was required?
It would seem to me that if the technique was going to work, it would work relatively quickly. The information attained would then either be useful or not. After the application of waterboarding, how was it known that there was more information to be had? It isn't like hitting the back of ketchup bottle. I can understand a limited application of a particular technique, but 183 applications makes me think that something went seriously wrong. This leads me to those who were directly in charge of the interrogation and/or application of the enhanced interrogation. These are the people President Obama has decided to not prosecute. If I am correct that those at the highest level of the Bush Administration were not sadistic, then I can't see how those who performed the torture did not abuse the directions outlined in the memos. If that's the case, then the justification for not prosecuting fails. At the very least, a full investigation is necessary.
I think that the "right" thing to do here is investigate the entire process from beginning to end and prosecute those who broke the law, including top administration officials if necessary. Unfortunately, what is "right" is not politically "right". The politics of this issue make it nearly impossible for President Obama to pursue past crimes without grinding his administration and agenda to a halt. Republicans should relish the possibility of this fight. Obama's presidency would become engulfed with investigations and lawsuits.
A full accounting of what happened should be done. However, seeking prosecutions at every level doesn't seem wise. I think prosecutions might be in order for those who violated the terms outlined under the Bush Administration though. However, even this might be enough to swamp Obama's presidency. The "183" really seems grossly wrong to me. I simply don't know what to recommend at this point. No matter what Obama does, someone is going to be angry. The pragmatist in Obama leads me to believe that he'd rather upset his base than Republicans on the premise that reader of DailyKOS will not be voting for Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney in 2012. In addition, if Obama can deliver on Health Care, the left will be thrilled. I don't think this is moral, but pragmatism might be the best plan of action for now. I'd much rather see Universal Health Care happen than prosecution of former Bush Administration officials and CIA Operative.
Underlying the issue of whether to investigate and prosecute those involved with torture is pure partisan politics. That's an issue for another day.
1 Comments:
I don't really have anything to add to this, except that I don't think prosecution of these crimes has to be now or never. Time will bring out more information, surely, and in the meantime health care, energy and other initiatives can go forward. I think justice only has to be postponed, not thrown out altogether.
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