A Reckoning In The Court of Public Opinion…
warning: emotionally rough materials.
Newsweek has an article about Obama’s likely answer for what to do about the “torture question,” or how his administration is likely to address the crimes against humanity committed by the old. Many progressives are pushing for full-scale prosecution of the soon to be former president and his administration for torture.There’s definite merit in this, it definitely answers the question of precedent, putting fear in future administrations of the ramifications of torturing other people.
If torture were the only poor legacy left by the Bush administration, it would be an easy path to take, but unfortunately this country has a number of problems left by this administration to address, and if they are to try to solve all of those problems, they will need full cooperation from all sectors of government. Witch hunts make this difficult. Yet, torture can’t go unaddressed.
Obama’s solution seems to be to create an investigate commission which will open to the public the information pertaining to illegal interrogations. No direct ramifications to the Bushies, but it could have one possible effect.
There could be a reckoning. If you believe that humanity is essentially good and that transparency of information allows that good to be expressed, even in situations where we have to to deal with our wost moments. Obama could and should, not only open the files to a commission but to any interested media. They should not just make that information put promote its being published. We don’t just need transparency, we need a wailing and a gnashing of the teeth. If we are able to well enough create horror at our own complicity, we can create better than a legal precedent, but a historical inurement against torture which will resound in the future.
It’s an allergy to our own atrocities we’ve been able to create before:
Because it’s not a war against a person that we need to initiate, its a war against the act. We need to hate the act of cruelty, not the man. Transparency can hopefully get us there, and I will do what I can to inform.
-Marc-
Although I think your reasoning is sound on emotional and rational level I think applied to the real world it is fatally flawed.
The public opinion will not change the acts of future military personnel,CIA operatives or surrogates. The results of what will surely turn into a partisan witch hunt will only cause more problems for America’s image and a Pandora box “out” for O.
I would also warn fans of the O tha future military ops under the O will resemble those of Clinton. Think mutilated GIs being dragged through the streets of Port Au Prince or Mogadishu. With that I believe any new found humanity and moral superiority on our behalf will vanish.