Torture Memos/Truth Commission/War Crimes Prosecution
I should have done this earlier, though what I'm about to write seems obvious to me. Now that we know that the administration is allegedly releasing some torture memos--but before we know whether they'll be redacted--I think it's important to publicly state a position in case I become tempted to worm out of it later.
First, and I think uncontroversially:
I believe that many Republicans believe that any pursuit of these issues will have partisan motivations.
Second:
I believe that's false.
Third, and most directly to the point:
In fact, I believe that the politically expedient thing for Obama to do would be to block release of the memos and block pursuit of anything like a truth commission or prosecution. I already believe that he's likely to be a one-term president (largely because I don't think anyone can clean up Bush's mess in four years), and if he pursues this, I think the odds of his one-termedness go up. Imagine, if you will, how the center-right (crucial for an Obama victory in 2012) would react to a (Republican) former U.S. president or vice-president being put on trial for war crimes.
Fourth:
I am inclined to think that more rather than fewer memos should be released, and that we should have a truth-commission at the very least, despite the political cost. We do seem to be talking about crimes just short of (and in some cases perhaps not all that short of) something like manslaughter. And we're talking about something like our national soul.
I know. Unless something miraculous happens in the GOP, it will again be important for the Dems to win. Or, rather, it'll again be important for the Republicans to lose. (I'm not sure it's ever really important for the Dems to win...) But unless disaster looms close, I think questions about justice are trumps. If Obama can jerk us back from the brink and get us back on a sensible path, staving off immediate disaster, we may have to forgo victory in 2012 in order to make sure that American doesn't lose what's left of its soul.
Pursuing the war-crimes issue--if it happens--won't be a move driven by politics. In fact--if it happens--it'll be just the opposite.
I should have done this earlier, though what I'm about to write seems obvious to me. Now that we know that the administration is allegedly releasing some torture memos--but before we know whether they'll be redacted--I think it's important to publicly state a position in case I become tempted to worm out of it later.
First, and I think uncontroversially:
I believe that many Republicans believe that any pursuit of these issues will have partisan motivations.
Second:
I believe that's false.
Third, and most directly to the point:
In fact, I believe that the politically expedient thing for Obama to do would be to block release of the memos and block pursuit of anything like a truth commission or prosecution. I already believe that he's likely to be a one-term president (largely because I don't think anyone can clean up Bush's mess in four years), and if he pursues this, I think the odds of his one-termedness go up. Imagine, if you will, how the center-right (crucial for an Obama victory in 2012) would react to a (Republican) former U.S. president or vice-president being put on trial for war crimes.
Fourth:
I am inclined to think that more rather than fewer memos should be released, and that we should have a truth-commission at the very least, despite the political cost. We do seem to be talking about crimes just short of (and in some cases perhaps not all that short of) something like manslaughter. And we're talking about something like our national soul.
I know. Unless something miraculous happens in the GOP, it will again be important for the Dems to win. Or, rather, it'll again be important for the Republicans to lose. (I'm not sure it's ever really important for the Dems to win...) But unless disaster looms close, I think questions about justice are trumps. If Obama can jerk us back from the brink and get us back on a sensible path, staving off immediate disaster, we may have to forgo victory in 2012 in order to make sure that American doesn't lose what's left of its soul.
Pursuing the war-crimes issue--if it happens--won't be a move driven by politics. In fact--if it happens--it'll be just the opposite.
posted by Winston Smith at
1:59 PM
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