The Day of Reckoning...

Is coming closer for those in the Bush Administration and the CIA who authorized the use of torture. Michael Isikoff of Newsweek is reporting that "Over objections from the U.S. intelligence community, the White House is moving to declassify—and publicly release—three internal memos that will lay out, for the first time, details of the 'enhanced' interrogation techniques approved by the Bush administration for use against 'high value' Qaeda detainees."

Will this lead to a "Truth Commission" or criminal investigations against government officials? I sure hope so (hopefully I'll have the time to explain why in a future post). Perhaps these memos could be so inflammatory that a Truth Commission will become undeniable. Isikoff reports, "One senior Obama official, who like others interviewed for this story requested anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, said the memos were 'ugly' and could embarrass the CIA. Other officials predicted they would fuel demands for a 'truth commission' on torture."

However, I still don't think criminal investigations are likely. Why? Simply because Congress' hands are not clean on this matter and Obama's campaign promises on government transparency have fallen miles short of the mark. Certain members of Congress, especially those on committees dealing with detainee detention and national security, were aware of the torture techniques being used against detainees. Additionally, Obama has embraced many of the tools Bush used to protect government secrecy. Perhaps the most alarming is the continuing use of the expanded state-secrets doctrine. Those are just a few reasons why I don't think prosecutions are likely, but that may change with the release of more memos from the OLC.

Either way, this should be an interesting story to follow. Will we reward lawlessness and immoral behavior? Or will justice and the rule of law prevail?
I'll leave you with James Madison in Federalist 51:

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.