Security obscures why administration sought memos on uses of torture

[jbfam4]

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vptor103842811jun10,0,7175578.story?coll=ny-editorials-headlines
Tormented truths
Security obscures why administration sought memos on uses of torture

June 10, 2004


Bush administration officials had torture on their minds long before the now infamous prisoner abuses took place at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. That's clear. What's not so clear is whether they were exploring the boundaries of the laws against torture in order to ensure those lines were respected, or were in search of artful ways to skirt them.


Testifying before Congress Tuesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft hotly denied any White House design to torture prisoners or to protect U.S. interrogators from prosecution if they crossed the line. And a Pentagon spokesman said the March memo was merely part of an internal administration debate on how to obtain information from al-Qaida operatives that never became policy.


That argument, distilled to its essence, is that the president, as commander in chief, is the law when it comes to the enemy. The fate of combatants is the president's alone to decide, unchecked by the courts or any other authority, administration lawyers said.

That's a very dangerous notion for a free country. The high court should reject Bush's brash power grab. And Congress should insist the administration hand over any memos that offer a candid view of its thinking about torture, an evil that should have remained unthinkable

[Ogden]

1. Bush's claim to be above the law

I sure hope this issue starts getting more press than it has thus far.

It is by far the greatest threat to the Constitution of the many threats posed by the Bush Administration.

[indepat]

2. And the pile of threats posed is mountainous for a veritable plethora

of threats have been piling up in the face of a complicit Congress and a shameful Supreme Court all the while a mainstream media generally shill on and on.

[Disturbed]

3. Constitutional Crisis

This is a huge situation that Congress has been trying to avoid.
With memos ending up on the Net they cannot avoid confronting BushCo attempts of violating the Constitution. The Detainee Torture issue was almost fading but now is the large elephant in the room.

BushCo is guilty of War Crimes. What is needed now is a document proving that the Pres. authorized torture. It is highly possible that the CIA leaked the memo and probable that they will leak more soon.

[Miss Authoritiva]

4. Guess which one of these options is totally bogus?

"What's not so clear is whether they were exploring the boundaries of the laws against torture in order to ensure those lines were respected, or were in search of artful ways to skirt them."

The Uniform Military Code of Justice, the Geneva Conventions, and the UN Convention Against Torture all clearly and explicitly spell out what is and is not acceptable treatment of prisoners.

So why waste time, money, and effort -- and bring into existence some rather nasty-sounding reports and memos -- when all the necessary guidelines were already in existence?