April 15, 2009
Barack 'Bush' Obama carries on another policy of his predecessor
Any more of this and liberal's heads are going to start exploding:
The Obama administration is leaning toward keeping secret some graphic details of tactics allowed in Central Intelligence Agency interrogations, despite a push by some top officials to make the information public, according to people familiar with the discussions.
These people cautioned that President Barack Obama is still reviewing internal arguments over the release of Justice Department memorandums related to CIA interrogations, and how much information will be made public is in flux.
Among the details in the still-classified memos is approval for a technique in which a prisoner's head could be struck against a wall as long as the head was being held and the force of the blow was controlled by the interrogator, according to people familiar with the memos. Another approved tactic was waterboarding, or simulated drowning.
A decision to keep secret key parts of the three 2005 memos outlining legal guidance on CIA interrogations would anger some Obama supporters who have pushed him to unveil now-abandoned Bush-era tactics. It would also go against the views of Attorney General Eric Holder and White House Counsel Greg Craig, people familiar with the matter said.
Top CIA officials have spoken out strongly against a full release, saying it would undermine the agency's credibility with foreign intelligence services and hurt the agency's work force, people involved in the discussions said. However, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair favors releasing the information, current and former senior administration officials said.
Obama's supporters believe that questions of morality come in nice, tidy little packages with clear instructions on what's right and what's wrong. Unfortunately, that is a childish way to look at the world where there are actually hazy grays when looking at morality and that other nations definitely don't share the left's desire to stick to the Bushies.
Other nation's do not want their dirty laundry aired along with ours. That's the bottom line and Obama has probably realized the damage it would do to intelligence cooperation if we did a document dump as his supporters wish.
What ever does come out will probably be sanitized and very selective - which is as it should be when dealing with state secrets.