The release of the Bush-era legal memos on “enhanced interrogation techniques” — lawyer double-speak for “torture”— is as welcome as it is alarming. Yet it also opens the first can of worms for Barack Obama’s administration. The US president was reportedly undecided about the move until aides argued that a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Council (ACLU) was likely to force the publication anyway. Thus it would be better for the White House to order it voluntarily.
An Obama official said the president had had to balance national security with the rule of law. The implication is that he came down on the side of the law. But in fact he has done no such thing. In announcing the release of the memoranda, Obama spent much of his time emphasizing that there would be no prosecution of those senior CIA officials who promoted and signed off on techniques such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation, nor of the agency’s operatives who carried out these tortures. In saying this he seems to have bought the CIA’s case that any prosecutions would also endanger national security. Thus with one hand he has revealed the truth and with the other he has sought to stop anyone acting on these frankly unacceptable and shocking facts. The only charitable take on this decision is that Obama fully expects the ACLU to undertake the legal actions in the courts that he found it politically impossible to take himself. However the reality is that this president, who campaigned for change, has come up hard against the immovable force of the Washington establishment, something a man of his intelligence would have figured long ago.
But maybe the charitable take is not too wrong. The memos are explosive. One slippery argument maintains the “cruel, unusual and inhumane treatment” of the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment only applies to US citizens and certainly not to any foreigner outside the US. When US legislators accepted Article 16 of the UN anti-torture convention they meant, says the memo, this exception to apply. Many congressmen, past and present, would disagree. Of course, this was yet another Bush administration hypocrisy. He for the punishment of human rights crimes elsewhere in the world — such as the indictment of Sudan’s Omar Bashir, while sanctioning CIA human rights crimes, as long as they were carried out on foreigners or off US territory — though Guantanamo is just that. This is clearly not an issue that is going to go away any time soon. The UN’s chief torture investigator said yesterday that the US authorities were obliged to prosecute any citizen accused of torture. The widespread anger and despair that the CIA is getting away with torture may yet produce legal action. And Obama’s aide was wrong that the president merely faced a choice between security and the law. There is also America’s world reputation. Obama campaigned that Gitmo soiled US world standing. He knows CIA torture is no less unacceptable. Having it promise to be good in future is not enough. It must account for its past.
Obama and the neighborhood
The New York Times yesterday called for the lifting of economic embargo on Cuba, saying in part:
President Obama wisely began trying to improve the United States’ extremely sour relations with Latin America this week. He slightly eased the counterproductive embargo on Cuba, and in a visit to Mexico, he vowed to help confront the drug cartels. He also promised leaders at a regional summit a “new day” of practical cooperation in place of President George W. Bush’s ideologically constricted policies.
Obama tackled the most neuralgic issue in hemispheric relations when he abandoned longstanding restrictions on the ability of Cuban-Americans to visit family members in Cuba and send them money. Cuba’s people have paid a high enough price for nearly three decades of repression and isolation imposed on them by Fidel Castro and his cronies.
Obama also allowed telecommunications companies to pursue licensing agreements in Cuba. Such deals are needed to pierce the wall of silence at the heart of the Cuban system by expanding access to cell phones and satellite television.
But these steps do not go far enough. We believe the economic embargo should be completely lifted. President Raúl Castro responded to Obama’s overtures with a call for talks about “everything.” We hope the administration follows up and that Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton continue to insist that Havana reciprocate by freeing political prisoners and respecting human rights. Obama made a welcome commitment to help President Felipe Calderón of Mexico combat drug trafficking, which has caused a surge of attacks on both sides of the border.
The Bush administration left so much turmoil and resentment around the world that Obama might have been tempted to defer dealing with Latin America. We are encouraged that he seems prepared to take on the full plate of issues, including trade, immigration reform, economic recovery, poverty and climate change.
