I don’t think we should follow Jon Meacham’s ridiculous advice that we create a kind of Warren/September 11 Commission to determine if ‘lives were saved’ by torturing the bejeezus out of people. Even if that were the case, it wouldn’t be even slightly exculpatory. It might be a mitigating factor, but the laws against torture allow for no exceptions of any kind. But, if we had a Warren/September 11 Commission that actually wanted to determine what happened and how to prevent it from happening again, I might be able to support it. But who would serve on such a commission? The Warren Commission had a simple formula. One Democrat and one Republican each from both the House and the Senate, plus the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, plus the former CIA director, plus the former president of the World Bank. The 9/11 Commission relied on retired politicians and a few Establishment figures that had prior experience serving in government. I think we should keep active politicians off of any such panel, and I’d include any retired politicians that have gone on the record prejudging the case. I also think the panel should include some people that have no experience working in Washington and no friends to protect and no axes to grind. It obviously cannot include any former directors of Central Intelligence.
I actually like the idea of having the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court serving on the committee. Here are some other suggestions. For Democrats, I think the American people can trust former New Jersey senator and presidential candidate Bill Bradley. I think former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott would be a decent pick. For Republicans, former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft has retained his credibility and independence, but his close friendship with Poppy Bush presents too much of a conflict of interest. I would recommend former Kansas senator Nancy Kassebaum. Another good pick would be former vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp of New York.
But to round out the committee, I think we need some non-Beltway wisdom. I’d find a constitutional law expert from an elite university who has somehow avoided publishing pieces on detainee policy. And how about the president of the American Medical Association, Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D.? We could call it the Bradley-Kemp Commission or something, and they could serve as co-chairs.
It would looks something like this:
Bill Bradley- Co-Chair
Jack Kemp- Co-Chair
John Roberts
Strobe Talbott
Nancy Kassebaum
Nancy H. Nielsen
Constitutional Law professor
If you want nine members, you can find two former members of the House, or reach out to find someone from the field of psychology and someone with experience in Intelligence matters.
You can make your own suggestions, including what you think they should focus their efforts on.
We both know that particular panel’s a non-starter.
So long as there’s one identifiable Democrat on the panel, never mind a former Oxford roommate of Clinton’s penis (Talbot), you’d be able to hear the wailing as far out as the Oort Cloud.
Washington is, as Josh Marshall points out, wired Republican. So ‘non-beltway’ people are out as well — they would not know what the answers were supposed to be going in, which is dangerous.
Maybe, just maybe, it’d have a chance of acceptance if Gingrich, Scalia, and Laurie Mylroie were on it.
There is no way that any accountability will avoid the screams by Republicans of politicization.
There is enough documentary evidence out there now to start a grand jury. The only question is who the prosecutor should be.
And the Jay Bybee memo is sufficient to justify beginning an impeachment investigation. No immunity granted, everyone under oath. If they want to plead the Fifth Amendment, they can.
With the documents that came out last week, a Truth Commission (a la Leahy) is no longer needed. And will become a distraction and a delaying tactic to obstruct real justice.
I believe that this is now a clear case for law enforcement. Warrants, grand juries, declassification, the whole nine yards. Follow the facts, follow the money. This is now a criminal case, not a special prosecutor investigation. Assign the best career prosecutor with knowledge of national security cases to the task.
Democrats do not have to worry about political backlash as long as the public understands the facts. And we are there; even my Republican friends understand the facts (those who are not dittoheads).
Pointless, toothless, aimless, consequence-less.
I’m with TarheelDem on this. We’re way past truth commissions. It’s no longer a question of whether crimes were committed, they were, or whether there should be prosecutions, there must be. We’re approximately at the point in A Few Good Men where Cruise’s character badgers Nicholson’s character into proclaiming his own guilt.
Cheney has all but publicly confessed, several times now, that he and others in the Bush administration ordered torture and then, after the fact, had Bybee, Yoo, and Bradbury craft legal opinions clearly calculated to defend the indefensible. Every time Cheney opens his mouth he implicates himself, and others, a little more.
In the movie, after Jessup’s outburst, Kaffee walks back to his desk and calmly tells the judge that Jessup should be informed of his rights. Somebody ought to be informing Cheney of his rights about now, because he is in a world of shit and he just keeps on making it worse.
I have been asking the questions myself about Cheney, doesn’t he have legal counsel, it doesn’t appear that he is using any in view of his statements.