By now many of you will have heard the increasing coverage of the prison camp system that was established early in the War on Terror to detain and "interrogate" suspects.
The existence of these camps was more or less known about--or at least the Gitmo one and Abu Ghraib--but the systematicity of the program was not. The torturing practices of the CIA were brought to the nation's attention once more when Cheney tried to get the new Senate bill outlawing inhumane treatment of detainees amended to exempt the CIA from the provisions therein.
I have nothing to say except that this is not just a potential security issue, but a genuine moral crisis for the nation. And crisis is not too strong a word.
We should start an investigation to see who was leaking classified information to reporters. Convene a grand jury, appoint a special prosecutor, etc. etc. etc. This info was pretty clearly classified, and thus its leaking was probably a violation of the Espionage Act. As you guys are now the official party of leaking investigations, you're on board, right?
ReplyDeleteyou make an interesting point--this kind of information does put soldiers possibly at greater risk of retaliation.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a great argument for why it shouldn't have been done in the first place and why those responsible for the policies should be court-martialed or subjected to whatever relevant legal action. You can have the reporters if we get Rumsfeld, Cheney, and the rest.
I know I'll be killed for this, but what US law would be violated if the CIA interrogated and held enemy combatants abroad? Ignore the international law questions or the moral dilemas and problems the policy poses - are any US laws broken? I can think that maybe oversight rules might have been violated, but any specific laws? I'm actually curious here. And I know that I'll get the torture line - but if what is being suggested is happening, and its happening without any abuse or torture occurring (probably an unsafe assumption) - what's the crime in the US?
ReplyDelete