…or should America stop torturing itself over torture?

Torture is illegal.
Torture is occasionally necessary.
Torture is OK because is works.
Torture is unreliable.
Waterboarding is torture.
Waterboarding isn’t torture.

We should prosecute torturers.
We should prosecute the lawyers who authorized torture.
We should prosecute their bosses.
Prosecuting previous administrations sets a troublesome precedent.

Forget the past. Look to the future. (Easy for John McCain. At his age he can't remember the name of his first wife.)

Dick Cheney is a patriot.
Dick Cheney is a war criminal.

Dick Cheney is a megalomanical ass hat. (This isn't actually part of the debate. I just like saying it.)

Jeez!

All of you who wish this entire issue would disappear, signify by raising your hands. Put your hand down, Barack. You don't get off that easy.

After you have discounted the righteous indignation of the liberal left, the stupidity and misdirection of the radio right, and the stupefying arrogance of the previous administration, you are left with a few troubling facts:

There is no doubt that America tortured suspected enemies over the last six years to determine what evil, if anything, was being planned as a follow-up to 9-11. Parsing definitions and creating euphemisms like "enhanced interrogation techniques" misses the point. If we think you have information, we are going to hurt you until you tell us what you know.

After World War II, the United States and its Allies prosecuted 5,600 Japanese military and civilian officials for war crimes including, specifically, waterboarding. This was not a gray area then and it's not a gray area now.

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 were a stunning national shock. Not knowing what might be coming next, the Bush Administration was determined not to let niceties like the Geneva Convention prevent them from protecting America, "by whatever means necessary."



Because Barack Omaba was not in charge when the towers fell, he is slow to criticise the response of those who were. I suspect it takes about twenty minutes in the Oval Office before you realize that sometimes you have bad choices and worse choices. President Obama would do well to replace the slogan, "The Buck Stops Here" with "Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged."



There should, however, be a statute of limitations on bad choices. The Presidential sins of 2001 and 2002 should not be continued out into 2007. The fig-leaf memos written by the White House Counselors to CYA the CIA were circulated in 2004. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times. Whatever understandable grace period the Bush Administration can point to should probably not stretch for seven years. Lincoln, Grant, and FDR all violated the Constitution by suspending habeas corpus--but not indefinitely.



At the end of the day, it is extremely unlikely that anyone will serve time for the treatment of detainees at Gitmo or Abu Ghraib (except for a few scape-goated soldiers like Lynndie England). Like the situation with OJ, we may have to live with justice denied. If we come away with a renewed sense of right and wrong, the case of America vs. Detainees may not be a total waste. It may be possible to believe that, while disinclined to admit mistakes and apologize, Americans might feel just a little sheepish about defending the actions of our former administration. Many said so when they pulled a lever for Barack Omaba.