The release of the memoranda by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel has begun the process of open disclosure, but President Obama must continue that process. He cannot expect the Senate and House intelligence committees to do a rigorous investigation because too many congressional leaders, including Jay Rockefeller, Nancy Pelosi, Peter Hoekstra, and Richard Shelby, knew about the practices of torture and abuse and did nothing to challenge, let alone prevent, them.
He must appoint a special prosecutor, perhaps John Dunlop, who has been investigating for months the CIA's destruction of the torture tapes, which now appears to have a blatant act of obstructed justice. President Obama has ruled out the type of commission that investigated 9/11, but Pandora's box has been opened and he will have to create or turn to some institution to confront the truths that have been unleashed. There is no perfect institution, but he must choose one-congressional, blue-ribbon, special investigator, Inspector General. Otherwise the president will continue to be hung up by an inability to confront the very real moral challenges posed by this country's use of torture and abuse.
It is time to recognize that the policy of torture and abuse was only one of many steps taken by President Bush and Vice President Cheney to expand and abuse presidential powers. The Bush administration was responsible for warrantless eavesdropping in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978; the Terrorist Surveillance Program in violation of the National Security Act of 1947; more presidential signing statements than all previous presidents signed in order to undermine the will of the people; and the outing of CIA clandestine operative Valerie Plame in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. The Obama administration may not have the time and energy to address all of these abuses, but the program of torture and abuse was by far the worst of these; it must be repudiated.
Melvin A. Goodman, a regular contributor to The Public Record, is senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He spent more than 42 years in the U.S. Army, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense. His most recent book is "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA."
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