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CIA Gets Extension Until Aug 24 On Torture Report
The Obama administration's request to delay releasing a key report on torture has reportedly been granted.
According to Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent, a judge has said the CIA can have until August 24 to release the declassified version of a 2004 inspector general's report on the Bush administration's interrogations program. The report's release has already been delayed several times.
Opponents of torture who have seen the unredacted report have said it vindicates their position that the tactic is ineffective. As Spencer notes, it has been credited with shifting Attorney General Eric Holder towards strongly considering initiating a criminal probe in connection with the torture program.
Josh
Zachary
What can possibly be gained by further delays? If what will eventually be revealed are scenarios even more horrendous than our worst fears, we need to get that material out and deal with it sooner rather than later. If, on the other hand, the reality is more benign than those worst fears, we as a nation would welcome that feeling of sweet relief.
July 15, 2009 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The gain is that each delay pushes accountability further down the road. It will eventually become obvious, even to judges and Senators, that the whole purpose of these delays are to create a perpetual delay and eliminate any accountability for US politicians and Federal Officials breaking the laws of both the USA and the international community.
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July 15, 2009 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
And I am old enough to recall that, just like Watergate, every Pandora's Box is eventually opened, and when it is, those who helped delay accountability are almost as damaged as those who perpetrated the crime. I had hoped that Obama and his team were somehow smarter than their actions reveal in this instance. My bad.
July 15, 2009 7:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh really? He hopes to delay, in hopes of eliminating in perpetuity any and all accountability of public officials? What simple minded and ridiculously flawed reasoning. How exactly could a 5 week postponement have the effect of eliminating accountibility?
I have enough respect for Obama's intellect to know that his choice to delay the release date is NOT because he thinks it will somehow magically disappear. Of course Obama realizes that there's no way to prevent the inevitable release of the report. Holder and Greg Craig recognized this certainty and informed the president of this long ago. On a number of occasions in the senate (prior Franken) Obama did have to assuage senators by pledging to do whatever he could to prevent the release of torture related photos/documents in order to facilitate the expedient passage of a number of spending bills. So it should be no surprise that he's at least going through the motions to delay their release.
Not to mention the rather auspicious date now in place for their release ... smack in the middle of the congressional summer recess, thereby guaranteeing that certain senators won't blow it up into a major distraction to getting the business of health care policy done (which goopers would have been more than happy to do in the spirit of obstructionism) and enough time until the beginning of the next session that by then it will be old news.
Very clever too, that it's release will come while congress is comfortably adjourned and thereby making it a centerpiece for at least one news cycle (barring any unexpected 'big' news that might usurp it) and quite possibly more in the dead of a politically news starved congressional recess.
July 16, 2009 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently you failed to read this part of the article.
The report's release has already been delayed several times.
July 16, 2009 7:43 AM | Reply | Permalink