Durbin Calls for Inspector General Investigation of Torture Memos

[L. Coyote]

Durbin Calls for Inspector General Investigation of Torture Memos
By Paul Kiel - February 8, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/durbin_calls_for_inspector_gen.php


We know what Attorney General Michael Mukasey thinks about investigating the CIA's use of waterboarding. Not gonna do it.

And that's precisely what he said in a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who's been hounding him on the issue, yesterday (you can read Mukasey's letter here http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/mukasey-reply-durbin/). But Durbin thinks that Mukasey is missing the point. He writes:

...I did not request nor suggest that those who relied on the Justice Department’s advice should be investigated. Rather, as I said in my letter, “a Justice Department investigation should explore whether waterboarding was authorized and whether those who authorized it violated the law” (my emphasis).

In other words, Mukasey's responses have been focused on whether the CIA agents (and possibly contractors) who carried out the waterboarding should be prosecuted. But Durbin says the emphasis should be on those who authorized the activity. He explains: "Under U.S. law, command responsibility is a well-established theory of liability that covers those who authorize violations of law."

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[L. Coyote]

1. TPM Today's Must Read = "torture" is in the eye of the beholder.

Today's Must Read
By Paul Kiel - February 8, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/todays_must_read_272.php

If the Bush Administration has taught us anything, it's that "torture" is in the eye of the beholder. It's the singular truth behind the repeated proclamations that "we do not torture."

The recent PR offensive has employed the same legerdemain. Administration officials have been making public statements about the use of waterboarding based on the same set of facts for the past week. But a simple shift in emphasis leads to a different headline.

Take, for instance, CIA Director Michael Hayden's testimony before the House intelligence committee yesterday. The New York Times proclaims "C.I.A. Chief Doubts Tactic to Interrogate Is Still Legal." The AP goes with "CIA Boss: Waterboarding May Be Illegal."

Here's what Hayden said, ....... Now, Hayden could have simply said "yes." But "yes" would not have been the right answer, exactly. Because what Hayden is saying is really no different from what Attorney General Michael Mukasey has testified: that waterboarding could possibly be used ...........