It's a good day. We're not learning anything we didn't really know already about the Bush/Cheney torture regime. The good news lies in learning that the Obama people are not going to collude with the Bushies to stonewall in the name of protecting establishment interests (aka national security) from legal action. There has been every reason to doubt that he would, and it's a relief that he has made this gesture toward transparency. This could just be a bone they're tossing to the civil liberties types, but I hope it's the first dribble of water coming through a leaking dyke. We all know there is so much more ugliness to be revealed; let's just get it over with and move on.
Obama says he won't prosecute, but that's a bone he's tossing to the CIA; he won't have a choice if there's enough pressure to shame him into it. This idea of forgetting the past and looking to the future is nonsense, and he knows it. Not to prosecute is to collude. It's not about recriminations; it's about sending a message to future torturers that you will not get away with this. Nothing could be clearer or simpler.
There's enormous pressure on him to stonewall, and I imagine there are vicious debates going on within the White House, pro and con whether to let the chips fall where they may or to try to damage control. I hope this is the beginning of a shift in the administration's stance here if for no other reason than that the administration recognizes that secrecy and stonewalling is a losing strategy no matter what price the administration must pay in the way of internal bureaucratic blowback.
Now what?
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