The Watchtower

All I've got is three chords
and a red guitar and the truth
All I've got is a red guitar
and the rest is up to you,
--Along the Watchtower, U2

Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that you've done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do
--Don't Stop, Fleetwood Mac

Do or do not. There is no 'try'
--Yoda, Star Wars
________________

As the Wall Street Journal and other conservative outlets assiduously laid the ground for the release of the bad news, in the form of the CIA enhanced interrogation techniques (EIT) logs, President Obama firmly ensconced himself in the fence rider's position.

Yes, we will release the torture memos, but we will not stir up any dust actually letting Congress and the Justice Department do what they should do. Not exactly change you can be proud of. It is like putting perps behind the glass in a police line up, in perpetuity. You may look, but you may not touch.

In a sense, one can understand. Obama is a political animal; you don't make it to the White House lacking that qualification. Why should he expend political capital on an ugly business, when Susan Boyle may yet give us all hope of a better day? He is standing on the watchtower viewing his constituents' response.

What is the meaning of this gesture? It seems movement without progress, a formula which characterizes the entire Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©).

"[T]he administration plans to propose redacting parts of the memos. In addition to the prisoner names, certain operational details of interrogations are expected to stay secret. . ." vWhat could possibly remain secret, and what is the rationale? There is no middle ground.

The President cannot be anti-torture, yet defer prosecution of torture. It is disingenuous.

"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs declined to comment Wednesday on how the administration plans to handle the memos."

The memos are crummy little pieces of paper, with as little value as a GM stock cert or the average 401K. the crux of the biscuit is how to handle the illegal activity authorized by the memos.

In comments redacted from the online version of the article:

"[Obama] is wrestling with political pressure to distance himself from now-abandoned Bush administration programs while keeping on his side an agency that is critical in the fight against extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Portions of CIA Memos to be Released)."

This implies the CIA's loyalty must be purchased by the president via judicial compromise. However, the CIA does not work for the president but the taxpayers of America.

A senior administration official said, "[Obama] doesn't want to do anything that seems to be undercutting [the CIA] at the very time he needs them.]" But the U.S. does not need the help of a criminal agency or rogue elements thereof.

What we do need is a purge of the network that produced such criminality. The seine net should include the Departments of Justice and Defense, as well as CIA elements that compromised the legal requirements of a liberal democracy. Democracy and legality are not pick and choose concepts. You are or you aren't.

The big argument from the torturer's side is that "their activities were approved by the Justice Department at the time." Nuremburg, anyone? That precedent negates the faulty argument that allows the administrations and the CIA's sidestepping of legal consequences.

What is at stake are the issues of trust and accountability -- as Paul Krugman wrote yesterday, the soul of the nation has been rent. The taxpaying citizens are realizing that their leaders are a nepotistic mutual support society.

This same behavior has knocked our financial sector to its knees. Our own home-grown pirates hold us as a nation hostage, demanding tribute, exploiting our trust and patriotism.

We are holding a portfolio of toxic goods.