Tortured Americans

In my last post I spoke of tortured Republicans. I said that "the torture memos must be so horrible that it is driving Republicans into a torturous frenzy." Now that the Obama administration has released the torture memos, all decent Americans are dismayed by the horribly immoral and illegal activities fellow Americans have done. Good Americans are tortured.

There are 2 parts to the administration's announcement: the released memos and the accompanying statement. Releasing the memos is welcome. First, it is a direct answer to the Senate Republican threats to "go nuclear" to prevent the nominations of Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh as State Department legal counsel.

Second, and more important, it helps close a bad chapter in American history when we lost our soul and abrogated our Constitution. And what for? Torture does not work.

This is not the way some extremist Republicans see it. Here, for example, is Rush Limbaugh<:

The idea that torture doesn’t work– that’s been put out from John McCain on down– You know, for the longest time McCain said torture doesn’t work then he admitted in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last summer that he was broken by North Vietnamese. So what are we to think here?

As usual, Limbaugh distorts. Here is what McCain said about his torture:

Eventually, I gave them my ship’s name and squadron number, and confirmed that my target had been the power plant. Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. When asked to identify future targets, I simply recited the names of a number of North Vietnamese cities that had already been bombed.

Torture is immoral, against American principles, and does not work. What's more, it causes distress to those doing the torturing. Here is what one CIA official involved with the Zubaydah case said:

[T]he harsher handling produced no breakthroughs, according to one former intelligence official with direct knowledge of the case. Instead, watching his torment caused great distress to his captors, the official said. Even for those who believed that brutal treatment could produce results, the official said, “seeing these depths of human misery and degradation has a traumatic effect.”

The torturer tortures himself as well as his captive!

I am happy about the release of the torture memos. But I am not happy about the accompanying statement:

Mr. Obama condemned what he called a “dark and painful chapter in our history” and said that the interrogation techniques would never be used again. But he also repeated his opposition to a lengthy inquiry into the program, saying that “nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."

I must say President Obama is wrong. It is not a question of laying blame but to achieve justice. Those who disobey American laws must be punished, whether they are ordinary citizens or officials of an administration. I don't think we should prosecute anyone immediately because we don't have all the facts. But, as the New York Times recommends, we must investigate:

That investigation should start with the lawyers who wrote these sickening memos, including John Yoo, who now teaches law in California; Steven Bradbury, who was job-hunting when we last heard; and Mr. Bybee, who holds the lifetime seat on the federal appeals court that Mr. Bush rewarded him with.

These memos make it clear that Mr. Bybee is unfit for a job that requires legal judgment and a respect for the Constitution. Congress should impeach him. And if the administration will not conduct a thorough investigation of these issues, then Congress has a constitutional duty to hold the executive branch accountable. If that means putting Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales on the stand, even Dick Cheney, we are sure Americans can handle it.

It's reassuring to see the torture memos released but we must appoint a commission to determine exactly what happened so we may cleanse our American system.