Truth Commission, Please!

We have been treated to around the clock defenses and rebuttals about the Bush-Cheney torture policy and claims and counter-claims about who was informed about what when and who lied. The Obama Administration hasn't done anyone favors by trying to keep this issue narrowly defined to the ethics of a small bunch of Bush-era lawyers. We know torture occurred prior to the legal memos. We know the torture time-line implies that these techniques were used to produce false intelligence to legitimize a war we chose to fight. And we also know that Cheney apologists have tried to keep the debate focused on three detainees instead of the abuse and torture of the many. The reversal by President Obama on the release of the abuse photos has only led to more confusion. Are these the photos and videos that showed young men being sodomized and women raped? Now we are treated to a bewildering set of claims and counter-claims about the nature of these photos. And,finally,in another post 9/11 moment, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman are sponsoring a law to prohibit the release of all these photos.

Dick Cheney claims two memos will vindicate his assessment that thousands if not millions of lives were saved by torturing detainees. Senators Levin and Feingold, who claim to have read the same memos, categorically deny they say any such thing. Who's right? And it really does matter.

If we are going to escalate the war in Afghanistan, I don't believe it is enough for the Obama Administration to pledge not to do it again. Before the Republicans start their campaign about the war in Afghanistan being Obama's war alone (and they will--remember Bob Dole speaking about Democratic wars), it's important for the American public to know the whys and wherefores of the policy debacles of the last eight years. This is certainly not Washington's way because while the Bush Administration executed, the Democratic leadership acquiesced. It's important for the country to know that.

We have heard calls for such an investigation from Generals Sanchez, Karpinski and Taguba, Col. Wilkinson and a host of military, FBI and CIA interrogators. Torture activists such as Dick and Liz Cheney demand the infamous memos be declassified as others call for the declassification of the CIA's 2004 report by the Inspector General saying the torture policy did not yield the appreciable results claimed by Cheney and company. And why have we not heard from George "It's a Slam Dunk" Tenet, who is constantly quoted as saying,"This program yielded more intelligence than the CIA,NSA and FBI had all together."

Since the United States willfully abandoned its treaty obligations, its own domestic law and its military traditions, it's extremely important to establish why, how and what were the results. Washington simply doesn't have the guts to do this type of things. Just look at the Chamber of Cowardice, the U.S. Senate in its overwhelming vote not to approve the funding to close Gitmo, despite the fact the American system holds about a equivalent number of terrorists in super-max prisons. The Senate has become the worlds' most deliberative retirement home and has abandoned all pretence of leadership.

Scholars like Jonathan Turley of George Washington University claim we are too advanced a democracy for a Truth Commission and that our age-old commitment to the rule of law will be better served if an Independent Prosecutor is appointed. I don't believe this. With the media echo chamber allowing people like Dick Cheney ample time to argue for torture without the rebuttal of his errors, there is an impression that somehow his position and that of the Bush Administration was legitimate. Since Washington fears prosecution of anyone for fear of people losing their dinner guests to prolonged periods of jail time, it's important a non-partisan Commission be established with the remains of people with any credibility left in this country. Call it a Danforth-Hamilton Commission if you will. But, it is more important in my opinion to have public education about this policy than even prosecutions.

The Bush-Cheney crowd argue that Al Qaeda represented a unique enemy in our history and for that reason they abandoned out strategic doctrine and launched pre-emptive wars. While waging these elective wars, the same Administration embarked on the largest warrantless wiretap campaign in our history, argued for unheard of powers for the presidency, and overrode the Constitution to embrace a policy of torture, hidden prisons and disappearances. It is vital for our health as a democracy and our alleged role as the standard bearer of the values of freedom to come clean and produce the real and false of the countless accusations floating around.