Official torture opposition’s last gasp
by digby
This would not be enough, but it’s something:
In a letter last week to President Barack Obama that was just made public, Feinstein called for sweeping changes that would put into law the anti-torture guidelines that Obama laid out in his first week in office. Some of the measures the California Democrat suggested, such as reevaluating the effectiveness of intelligence operations, have already been broached by the Central Intelligence Agency itself. Others, such as a legislative ban on the CIA holding long-term detainees, would codify President Obama’s efforts to change the intelligence community’s approach to interrogations. Feinstein told the president her recommendations would “make sure that the United States never again engages in actions that you have acknowledged were torture.”
Feinstein said that she would introduce legislation at the beginning of the next Congress — which starts Tuesday — to put into law many of the measures that Obama established by executive order in 2009. That includes making U.S. Army guidelines on interrogation binding for not just the military but for the entire intelligence community; requiring the United States to give the Red Cross timely access to all prisoners; and prohibiting the CIA from detaining prisoners. Additionally, Sen. Feinstein is seeking to close outstanding legal loopholes that enabled government agencies to sidestep existing domestic laws banning the use of torture.
At the same time, Feinstein is seeking to throw plenty of sunshine onto the intelligence community in a bid to ensure that questionable techniques don’t reappear. She argued that torture took place in part because of lawmakers’ limited ability to receive timely intelligence briefings. In her letter, she asked Obama for enhanced oversight of covert programs by Congress and the CIA inspector general, and recommended that the National Security Council improve its oversight of covert programs.
Fabulous. Great idea. It’s a start. It shouldn’t be necessary since torture is clearly illegal in both US and International law and we should be able to count on the government adhering to it, but there you are. After all, John Brennan himself told us that we couldn’t count on the CIA not to torture in the future so …
Unfortunately, this is not going to pass. The new congress has a Republican majority and they love torture. They love it so much that it doesn’t matter if a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House. Sadly, a whole bunch of Democrats love it too.
And frankly, President Obama has not been a profile in courage on this either. Yes, he officially abandoned the policy and admitted that “we tortured some folks” but his behavior around the release of the report and his unwillingness to take a strong stand on whether or not it represented the truth is a permanent stain on his legacy. I don’t think it would be smart to count on any White House bucking the intelligence system.
But good for Feinstein for putting this out there. There’s a chance that some elements of this to which the Intelligence services aren’t completely opposed could pass and anything’s better than nothing. The downside is that the government will then say they “fixed” the problem when, in fact, they will have normalized the practice and legalized much of the program. But that ship sailed when a large part of the US Congress and administrations of both parties basically shrugged their shoulders and nobody was even fired, much less prosecuted for having broken the laws against torturing people in the first place. The precedent exists and if a president wants to use it in the future it’s unlikely that it will cause much of a stir.
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