In Surprise Move -- Cheney Offers the Best Rationale for Torture Investigations

Updated Below:

From yesterday's Fox News Sunday interview:

CHENEY: Well, you think, for example, in the intelligence arena. We ask those people to do some very difficult things. ... They do so at the direction of the president, and they do so with the -- in this case, we had specific legal authority from the Justice Department. And if they are now going to be subject to being investigated and prosecuted by the next administration, nobody's going to sign up for those kinds of missions.

In other words, if there is no investigation, people will be willing to sign up to torture their fellow human beings when directed by some future president. Seems, more than anything else, that is the best rationale for investigations -- especially of those who gave the direction in the first place.

Furthermore, it is refreshing to see so much concern for morale at the CIA. It is too bad that this concern for morale was not present when the direction to torture was given in the first place. The demoralizing effect that our nation's engagement in torture has had on the outstanding men and women of our intelligence services, as well as of those in the military services, is incalculable. It's one thing to ask our children to be willing to sacrifice their lives for their nation. It is quite another to ask then to shed their humanity.

Update: So far in the 21st century, the United States has had three presidential administrations. Only one of them presided over the biggest national security failure and most horrific attack on the United States in the history of the republic. That anyone from that administration has the audacity to criticize the national security policies of any other administration -- let alone offer himself as some sort of "national security expert" -- is beyond the pale.

Furthermore, while investigations into past abuses may be traumatic for the nation, to assign responsibility for that trauma to those who are attempting to apply the rule of law as opposed to those who so wantonly and eagerly disregarded the rule of law in the first place is unconscionable. There would be no need for such investigations if the prior administration had not engaged in widespread and institutionalized lawbreaking in the first place.

In addition, the lack of any remorse or misgiving or any sense of responsibility on Cheney's part is chilling and almost pathological. Everything the past administration did was perfect -- absolutely no mistakes notwithstanding the biggest national security failure ever and the totally inept response, which has led to an almost endless sacrifice of additional American blood and treasure. Even the temperature of the water used to douse naked detainees was just right (41 degrees), not too warm, not too cold. There is absolutely no recognition that his endless defense of his administration's flawed detention policies continues to serve as one of the most effective recruitment tool for future extremists.

Nonetheless, to return to the overall objective of this blog, the torture legacy of the prior administration is a compelling example of the corrosive effect that the abuse of official government secrecy has on our nation and its well-being. It has allowed the discourse to seamlessly shift from "We don't torture" to, "Yes, we did torture and we are proud of it." There is no way these extraordinarily flawed, ineffective, illegal and immoral practices would have been crafted and implemented in the first place except for the cloak of official secrecy.