What are the lessons we can learn from the release of these torture memos? (And don’t forget – there are others which haven’t been released.)
Michael Hayden, who led the CIA under George W. Bush, said CIA officers will now be more timid and allies will be more reluctant to share sensitive intelligence because the release shows they "can't keep anything secret."
How are brains like his different from brains of actual human beings?
"If you want an intelligence service to work for you, they always work on the edge. That's just where they work," he said.
And what did President Obama have to say?
He condemned what he called a "dark and painful chapter in our history" and said that the techniques would never be used again. But he said: "Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."
Let me repeat that, adding the rest of the statement, which he left unspoken.
"Nothing will be gained politically for me by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."
That’s the only way to read that statement truthfully. Because, of course, there are great gains to be made by laying blame and extracting accountability from those involved – which I realize includes a lot of people in high places. To name three: 1) the US could regain (or gain, in some instances) a favorable international reputation; 2) justice would be served; 3) current and future officials would be discouraged from engaging in illegal and immoral activities.
Those are very real, very valuable gains to be had.
The other unspoken truth in Obama's excusing of torture is that we have proven at last that we are no different than the brutal regimes we condemn publicly for their "crimes against humanity" and "violations of human rights". As Mark Twain put it:
"There are many humorous things in the world: among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages."
Yes, Mr. President, it is a "dark and painful chapter in our history," and it's not over. There are great numbers of people left still suffering from it. They deserve better than a brush-off. Where there is no justice, there can be no peace.
But of course, we have plenty of evidence over many decades that peace is not our goal.
....and hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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