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Former Vice President Dick Cheney invites public debate on the use of torture, or extreme duress as he euphemistically calls it, to secure intelligence from suspected or actual foes. Even his daughter, Liz Cheney, got into the act, ripping a page from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palins stump speeches to accuse President Barack Obama of being soft on terrorists.
Like many political observers, I had hoped to enjoy the end of Cheneys efforts to shape pubic policy, especially in the area of national security.
However, Cheney has willingly agreed to not only serve as national spokesman for the previous administration, but it appears hes also signed on as spokesman of the supposedly rebranded and retooled Republican Party. And who is the model Republican of the new GOP, Face the Nation asked Cheney recently? Rush Limbaugh? Colin Powell? Cheney choose Limbaugh.
Unfortunately for the former vice president and fortunately for the country the Obama administration is now in the drivers seat, and all of this public bullying and nonsensical spewing by Cheney is nothing more than a distraction to further divide people at a time when we should all be working together to make our nation sounder and safer.
Since the Bush administration did not give the American people, much less some in their own party or the opposition party, the option of a meaningful national debate on torture, it is vitally important that the Obama administration gives Congress or an independent commission the opportunity to air our collective dirty laundry. Sunshine, as was once famously stated, is the best disinfectant.
I know the president has much on his plate, but with the release of the memos on the interrogation techniques and the upcoming release of the internal report by the Justice Department, this issue will not go away. Nor, so it seems, will Cheney.
Its time we act like adults and allow the information, including the detainee photos that the administration had once agreed to release, to come forward. Somehow, I believe the court will not reverse course and allow them to come to the forefront. So let the country debate the merits. This is not just about the safety of our brave men and women in uniform fighting abroad; it is about the rule of law and the reputation of our country and all of its citizens.
For the record, I opposed the use of torture. It is illegal. Worse, the use of it stains our nations moral fabric. But, if the opposition believed that the gruesome procedures produced some actionable intelligence that kept the country from being harmed, do tell and explain it to us.
Perhaps lawmakers or the commissions members could ask Cheney and others why, when in our entire history from the American Revolution through the first Iraq War we did not see the need to torture, what so changed as to also change our national character?
It is Cheney who bears the burden of making his case. Cheney was instrumental in introducing it, and, if he wants to go before a commission and discuss what he authorized, let it be.
Torture is so fundamental a change in our nations moral compass that it must be debated. It shows how far we have already changed that we even debate what was previously a settled matter: Torture is immoral. Period.
If torture is accepted as a federal domestic tool to elicit information from domestic enemies, would not it also flow into practices of local police?
It is Orwellian doublespeak to argue that torture is merely an extreme duress method that produces fruit. It is forbidden fruit, poisonous in the extreme.
Bring it on, Mr. Cheney. Let there be a national debate. You have much to answer for. Meanwhile, Mr. President, its time we create an independent commission to investigate these matters.
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