New York Times Editorial Board calls for special prosecutor on torture

A lead editorial in the New York Times  on Monday, Dec. 21, 2014, called for President Obama to appoint a  special prosecutor to investigate the CIA interrogation and torture situation, in the wake of the revelations that survived the redactions insisted upon by the CIA of the Summary Report of the Senate Select Commmittee on Intelligence.

The editorial reads, in part:

"No amount of legal pretzel logic can justify the behavior detailed in the [Senate Intelligence Committee] report. Indeed, it is impossible to read it and conclude that no one can be held accountable. At the very least, Mr. Obama needs to authorize a full and independent criminal investigation. . . . 

"The question everyone will want answered, of course, is: Who should be held accountable? That will depend on what an investigation finds, . . .  But any credible investigation should include former Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; the former C.I.A. director George Tenet; and John Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Office of Legal Counsel lawyers who drafted what became known as the torture memos. . . .

"Starting a criminal investigation is not about payback; it is about ensuring that this never happens again and regaining the moral credibility to rebuke torture by other governments. Because of the Senate’s report, we now know the distance officials in the executive branch went to rationalize, and conceal, the crimes they wanted to commit. The question is whether the nation will stand by and allow the perpetrators of torture to have perpetual immunity for their actions."

Strong stuff from arguably the most respected newspaper in the country.   But it makes a good argument.

I think the same could be achieved, with less opposition, however, by a Truth and Reconciliation process similar to what Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu set up in South Africa.    It was agreed ahead of time that there would be no punishment for anyone in exchange for people giving a full disclosure of what was actually done.   In that way, the truth would be aired and put into the record under cooperation from those who would otherwise hide behind the best legal defense money could buy. 

The important thing, here so many years later, is that the truth be revealed and generally agreed upon, so that it can stand as a deterrent to it ever happening again.    I feel a strong contempt for Dick Cheney but no particular desire to see him go to prison.   What I want is for him to come clean and admit the truth, which should include acknowledging that it was torture, that it was morally and legally wrong, and that it didn't make anything better, only worse.   If we could get that out of him -- or, even if he would never admit it, to have the record so clear that everyone in the future could see the truth -- and that would be enough.

Ralph