Torture memos are due tomorrow

by Jay McDonough

The requested two week continuance that the Obama Justice Department requested ends tomorrow.  The three Bush Administration memos that reportedly included specific details about approved torture techniques and approved for release by Attorney General Eric Holder has apparently become the center of a contentious battle between the CIA and Obama Administration officials.  The White House requested the two week continuance to make a decision about how much, if any, of the memos will be released.

The Wall Street Journal reports today the debate is still raging and the President is leaning towards the CIA arguments:

Top CIA officials have spoken out strongly against a full release, saying it would undermine the agency's credibility with foreign intelligence services and hurt the agency's work force, people involved in the discussions said. However, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair favors releasing the information, current and former senior administration officials said.

People familiar with the matter said some senior intelligence advisers to the president raised fears that releasing the two most sensitive memos could cause the Obama administration to be alienated from the CIA's rank and file, as happened during the Bush administration when Porter Goss, who was unpopular among CIA officers, headed the agency.

The whole sordid story is unknown at this point, but based on the reading I've done, the impetus for "enhanced" interrogation came from Bush Administration officials who authorized it and then had Justice Department hacks write legal opinions justifying it.  The release of the memos has little to do with CIA operatives who believed they were following orders.  And as Andrew Sullivan notes, "if CIA staffers believe that covering up war crimes is integral to maintaining their morale, then we need new CIA staffers"

And worrying about how other foreign intelligence services will view the CIA is hardly a justification for keeping secret the law breaking of our elected government.  I may be naive, but I would suspect foreign intelligence services would have more regard for a U.S. intelligence organization that is accountable and respects the rule of law than one that adopts Khmer Rouge tactics and conspires to hide all the evidence.

Comments

[geoff]

This, i think, is a watershed decision for Obama, though he himself doesn't have to actually deal with it personally. If he has decided to obfuscate, he really will have set the tone for his administration and then hasn't he started to become complicit with the alleged war criminals. Maybe this is his Bay of Pigs: advise from previous administration flunkies, he decides to take, leads him into a disaster, though this one may have a longer fuss.

[geoff]

An interesting and revealing piece from Mother Jones about Obama's media staff and, of course, the sycophant stenographers disguised as journalists (sic) at the White House. I thought Obama was to set a new tone. Pas de problèm, eh, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[Jay McDonough]

Obama reportedly ordered the release of the documents, largely unredacted, this afternoon.