Amy Goodman: Disclosure of ‘Secrets’ in the ’70s Didn’t Destroy the Nation

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



Disclosure of ‘Secrets’ in the ’70s Didn’t Destroy the Nation

Posted on Apr 29, 2009
By Amy Goodman


President Barack Obama promised “more transparent ... more creative” government. His release of the torture memos, and the Pentagon’s expected release of more photos of detainee abuse, is a step in the right direction. Yet he assured the CIA that he will not prosecute those who followed the instructions to torture from the Bush administration. Congress might not agree with this leniency, with prominent senators calling for investigations.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, just released a 262-page report titled “Inquiry Into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody.” Levin said the report “represents a condemnation of both the Bush administration’s interrogation policies and of senior administration officials who attempted to shift the blame for abuse ... to low-ranking soldiers. Claims ... that detainee abuses could be chalked up to the unauthorized acts of a ‘few bad apples’ were simply false.” Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also are proposing investigations.

The Senate interest in investigation has backers in the U.S. House, from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, D-Mich., who told The Huffington Post recently, “We’re coming after these guys.”

Amrit Singh, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the Pentagon’s photos “provide visual proof that prisoner abuse by U.S. personnel was not aberrational but widespread, reaching far beyond the walls of Abu Ghraib. Their disclosure is critical for helping the public understand the scope and scale of prisoner abuse as well as for holding senior officials accountable for authorizing or permitting such abuse.” The ACLU also won a ruling to obtain documents relating to the CIA’s destruction of 92 videotapes of harsh interrogations. The tapes are gone, supposedly, but notes about the content of the tapes remain, and a federal judge has ordered their release. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090428_heed_the_churches_on_torture/?ln

[niceypoo]

1. Obama disclosed no secrets...

Cheney has been bragging about it on TV every few weeks since Obama won. It has been in the news for several years now.

Secrets my ass.

[HereSince1628]

2. Don't forget that the 1970's post Watergate probes and reforms were Cheney's motivation

for restoring the powers of the Presidency. Look where that got us.

Unless you argue away the reality that the 1970's were the training ground for many of the worst of the NeoCons, I am not sure that you can say the 70's probes didn't destroy the country. The lawful country we though we had restored by the 1970's reforms came crashing down around us with the first four years of the Cheney administration.